- We target banks, shopping malls – Suspects
The Police in Osun State have apprehended a gang of kidnappers and armed robbers terrorizing residents of the state.
Some residents have lamented rising cases of abduction, robbery and harassment in public places by miscreants who are armed with dangerous weapons.
They had vented their anger on social media platforms on how criminals have taken over Osogbo, the capital city, dispossessing innocent citizens of their and other precious belongings.
Last week, luck ran against a gang of the attackers called mini-kidnappers following police arrest shortly after they held some citizens hostage and robbed them.
Out of the four man gang who embarked on the daylight robbery, two escaped while others were apprehended by the police.
The suspects were a 29-year-old Adesina Hammed from Iresi town of Osun State and Oyeladun Iyanu, aged 28 from Ada town of the state.
Confirming their arrest, the Police Public Relations Officer, Yemisi Opalola, said the gang doubled crossed two young men who were on a motorcycle, held them hostage for some time and robbed them of their money and phone around Olaiya area of Osogbo.
Opalola said, “Upon reports and complaints from the general public through various media such as, petition, social media platforms; X (twitter), Instagram of a brewing crime of kidnapping and forceful extortion of individuals by hoodlums who are now referred to as “mini kidnappers”, the Osun State Police Command has been able to effect the arrest of two suspects named; Adesina Hammed ‘M’ 29years and Oyeladun Iyanu ‘M’ 28 years who have been terrorizing the city of Osogbo.
“The incident happened at about 7:30pm on 5th of June 2024, when two young men were stopped along Olaiya towards Osun mall area by a group of four individuals on bikes and were forcefully robbed of their phone (iPhone 13) with cutlass, after which they took them to a POS operator to still rob them of the sum of N400, 000.
“Upon tip off, a team of Anti-cultism squad swung into action and was able to apprehend these two suspects with the remaining two (2) gang members at large.
“Investigation is ongoing, while efforts are on the top gear to arrest the fleeing suspects.
“Meanwhile the case will be charged to court upon conclusion of the investigation.
“The Osun State Police Command is using this medium to assure the general public especially the good people of Osun State to exercise patience while the Command is putting up mechanisms in place to rid this state of crimes and criminals to enable this state remain and maintain its place as one of the most peaceful states in the nation.”
While being interviewed, the suspects revealed that they loiter around banks and shopping malls to rob their victims.
According to Hammed, “We normally stay around places like banks and malls where we know that people who have money will come.”
Confessing how they robbed their last victims, he said, “We robbed them of their iPhone 13 and sold it at the sum of N120, 000. We also took them to a PoS kiosk and forced them to transfer the sum of N400, 000 into our account.
“We threatened them with cutlass and we later allowed them to go.”
Iyanu’s narration was not different from his colleague’s as he declared that they have been robbing citizens of the state before their arrest.