‘Our target was to kidnap one cow dealer’

The duo of Wakili Mohammed 34, and his crime partner, Alli Ismaila Baree, aged 36, has been paraded by Oyo State Police Command, Eleyele Ibadan for Kidnapping and armed robbery cases.

The two suspected criminals were paraded alongside 34 other suspected criminals by the State Commissioner of Police, Olukolu Olushina on Wednesday.

Briefing journalists on the development, Olukolu said the suspected criminals were arrested on April 30, 2020, at about 8:00Pm. The CP Stated that it took the combined efforts of the Police team and the Vigilante Group detailed at a spot near Esarun Village in Ido town along Eruwa-Igbo-Ora road to got the suspects arrested.

“The Police team and a local Vigilante group were detailed on the said road to enforce the dusk-to- Dawn curfew on movement of persons occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic. In the course of enforcing the curfew, the group sighted three men on motorcycle and were stopped for routine check-up, but the three men suspected to be members of an armed robbery cum kidnapping syndicate who have been terrorizing members of the public in the area fled from the scene into the bush, abandoned their operational motorcycle and a bag which was stripped to the motorcycle.

 Olukolu explained further that the Police and the Vigilante team alerted the SARS Operatives and Policemen from Ido Police Division led by the DPO who were on routine Anti Crime Patrol in the Area. They searched the bag and then discovered two AK-49 Rifles with two Magazines loaded with thirty and eight  rounds of live ammunition respectively in the bag.

“The combined team of SARS Operatives and Policemen from Ido Division later combed the nearby villages with the support of the local Vigilante men and in the process, two of the fleeing suspects were arrested in their hideouts and they were identified as Wakili Mohammed and Alli Ismaila Baree. Upon interrogations, the suspected criminal have confessed to be part of the four men armed robbery cum kidnapping syndicate and explained that the AK-49 Rifles recovered from their bag were normally used to perpetrate their nefarious criminal activities,”  Olukolu said.

While speaking with newsmen, one of the Suspects Wakili Mohammed said they were actually on their way to  Odo-Ogun in Ado Awaye Village of Eruwa to abduct a cattle dealer.

He said, “We were arrested on our way to Odo-Ogun in Ado Awaye Village of Eruwa, we were arrested by the Police and Vigilante team, we are actually going to kidnap one cow dealer for ransom, before we were intercepted and got arrested. I regret my actions,” he disclosed.

However, the State Commissioner of Police said since the suspected criminals have confessed to the crime and have also been helping the police in their investigation to arrest other fleeing members of the group, they will soon be charged to Court of law for proper trial.