Some suspected cultists on the police wanted list have been apprehended in Ogun State’s Ijebu-Ode area.
The five suspects were reportedly apprehended on February 22 while plotting another horrific attack at their hideaway along Molipa.
Segun Olabiyi (aka Koleje), Musa Atanda (aka Musa sars), Olorunjuedalo Adewale, Olamide Odewole, and Peter Anuoluwapo Akinyemi are the suspects, according to Abimbola Oyeyemi, the Ogun State police spokesman.
According to Oyeyemi, the suspects were apprehended when police at Ijebu Ode’s Obalende division got intelligence that hoodlums, allegedly belonging to the Aiye confraternity, had congregated in groups at the rear of De Prime Hotel in preparation for a fatal attack.
As a result, the DPO of the Obalende division, SP Salami Murphy, mobilized his men and headed to the scene.
“On sighting the policemen, the hoodlums engaged them in a gun battle but they were subdued by the superior firepower of the policemen,” Oyeyemi said, adding that this led to the arrest of the five suspects as others escaped with bullets injuries.
A local gun, two live cartridges and assorted criminal charms were recovered at the scene of the gun duel.
Preliminary investigation, according to Oyeyemi, revealed that the suspects had been actively involved in various cult clashes that had claimed many lives, including that of a serving policeman, Sgt Akeem Oseni, attached to Igbeba division.
“Their trademark according to their confession is to cut off the right hand of their victims after killing them. They also confessed to have been involved in some robbery operation in Ijebu-Ode and its environs and that one of their prominent leaders simply known as PERTH was killed in one of the robbery operations,” Oyeyemi said.