The police in Ekiti State have arrested 18 members of Aiye Secret Confraternity for alleged involvement in the killing at Oye-Ekiti in March of one Ajayi Sunday and Owolabi Moses.
The Commissioner of Police in Ekiti State, Moronkeji Adesina, said the 18 suspects, who were arrested at Ikole-Ekiti during the cult group’s initiation ceremony, confessed participation in the killing of the two persons.
Adesina, who was represented by the Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti State Police Command, Sunday Abutu, spoke in Ado-Ekiti on Saturday during the parade of the 18 suspected killer cult members and 17 others arrested for various crimes ranging from cattle rustling to kidnapping and armed robbery.
Abutu said, “On 28th May, 2022 at about 8:00am, a team of the Rapid Response Squad operatives, acting on a tip-off, swooped on a criminal hideout in Ikole-Ekiti where suspected cult members were holding their initiation.”He listed the arrested suspected cult members as Alayerogun, Fatoye, Ogunsakin, Oluwadare, Bimbola, Afolabi, Adelola, Ogundola, Adeyemo, Johnson, Kolawole, Babalola, Fanimo, Awoyemi, Charles, Thomas, Obanla and Anjorin, saying the police were on the heels of those who escaped.
“Items recovered from the suspects are one cut to size single barrel gun, two cutlasses and 10 suspected stolen motorcycles which they used in carrying out their nefarious activities,” he said.
Abutu said the police also arrested two suspected cult members who, on May 15, attacked two students of the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, in their residential apartment in Iworoko-Ekiti.The police spokesperson said the two suspects arrested, Akinbo and Shodipe, confessed to be members of the Aiye confraternity just as a camouflage cap with Pirate secret cult insignia was recovered.
The police also paraded four suspected notorious armed robbers in connection with the attack in 2020 on a Wema Bank branch at Iyin-Ekiti, kidnap of an expatriate during the construction of the new Ado-Iyin Road and the robbery attack on Maxwell Hospital in Ado-Ekiti.Abutu gave the names of the suspects as Lasisi, Omotoyinbo, Ilesanmi and Omowumi, adding that the police would soon arrest others still on the run.
He said the command also arrested “a syndicate of armed robbers who specialised in snatching motorcycles at gun points and selling to receivers in Ondo and Zamfara States.”
He listed those arrested alongside five recovered suspected stolen motorcycles as Omodara, Lasisi, Bamisile, Alex and Omojola, adding, “Effort is ongoing to arrest other members of the gang and recover the stolen motorcycles in their possession.”
The command also paraded three suspected kidnappers and cattle rustlers – Dairu Adamu, Usman Saidu and Nura Usman, who, alongside others at large, allegedly attacked one Sani Mamuda, a Fulani herdsman who was rearing his cattle along the Eruku/Itapaji forest and in the process rustled 35 cattle from him while he managed to escape from the scene.
Similarly, two suspected cattle rustlers, Yahu Bello and Muhamed Alima, were arrested in Ikole-Ekiti and one Ajayi Emmanuel for receiving the rustled cattle.The police spokesperson said, “Definitely, as soon as investigations are concluded, all the suspects arrested shall be charged to court for prosecution.”
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