Olalekan Amos, a commercial driver on the Edo/Osun State route, has been caught by police after fleeing with electrical goods worth N4.5 million that he was supposed to deliver in Osogbo, Osun State.
Amos, who was among the suspects detained across the state for crimes ranging from armed robbery to kidnapping and participation in illegal organisations, was paraded before the state Police Command headquarters in Osogbo on Friday.
According to the command’s spokeswoman, Yemisi Opalola, the suspect collected the devices from Edo State in March of this year, refused to deliver the gadgets to the agreed-upon location in Osogbo, and fled with the amplifiers.
Opalola said, “Sometimes in March 2024, the complainant who lives in Edo State reported that he employed the service of the suspect, who is a commercial driver plying Benin (Edo State) to Osogbo, to deliver three amplifiers worth $1.5 million each to one of his customers in Osogbo, but to his dismay, the message was not delivered as agreed.
“Upon the report, the Police Anti-Cultism Unit, which has been on the trail of the suspect since 4/7/2024, arrested him. He confessed to having sold the said three amplifiers worth N1.5 million each to someone at the rate of $25,000.”
Also presented is John Olowosaye, who conspired with Olalekan Oyeyemi, also known as Emir, to kidnap several individuals in Ede in August 2023.
After the victims were kidnapped, Opalola claimed the culprits took them to Balogun Area in Osogbo, where a ransom of N2.6 million was paid to Oyeyemi’s account.
He added that Olowosaye was detained after a police investigation revealed him to be one of the offenders. Simileoluwa Akinyele, a suspected robber, and Ajao Blessing, who are believed to be terrorising Ikire town and its surrounds, were apprehended by the Command’s Anti-Cultism Unit and paraded by the police.
Five more alleged armed robbers were apprehended for targeting houses in Osogbo’s Agunbelewo/Halleluyah Estate Area, stealing laptops, phones, jewellery, and clothing.
The suspects, Abubakari Ayomide, Adewumi Isaac, Ekene Sunday Adesumola Afeez, and Sodiq Adeyemi, during a robbery operation, “also took away one unregistered Lexus RX 350 Jeep valued at Twenty Million Naira only (N20m) property of one of the victims.
“The police detectives from the anti-vice and anti-robbery sections swung into action, and through diligent intelligence-led investigation, five suspects were arrested.”
Opalola warned that the police would not make life easier for criminals in Osun and urged locals to always provide timely and credible information to the police so that the force could better serve the state.
