From Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
Police in Ogun State have arrested five suspected members of a dreaded cult gang with the corpse of a young man suspected to also be a cultist.
The suspects, Babatunde Shittu, 25, Ayobami Morenikeji, 15, Fidelis John, 23, Abdullah Adegbenro, 17 and Oyeyemi Bakare, 20, all male, were arrested on Monday, following a distress call received at the Sango Area Police Command that a group of boys were sighted with a male corpse in a tricycle heading towards Ota.
The suspects were also reported to be brandishing dangerous weapons such as cutlasses, cudgels and sticks.
Upon the distress call, the Police Area Commander, Sango-Ota, ACP Monday Agbonnika, quickly mobilised patrol team to the area where the hoodlums were met on a rampage destroying property and robbing innocent members of the public along Ilo-Awela Road.
The police team engaged and subdued them, and five among them were subsequently arrested.
‘On interrogation, they informed the police that they went to a party in Mushin Area of Lagos State and on their way back, a fight ensued among them and in the process, one of them was overrun by a fast-moving vehicle and he died on the spot.
‘They stated further that they were taking the corpse to the families of their attackers with the intent to take revenge.
‘The hoodlums before the arrival of the police had damaged one Toyota Highlander jeep with registration number KJA 275 GD belonging to one Emmanuel Adekoya. They had also snatched an Infinix phone from one Falola Olushola and a cash sum of 50,000 from Emmanuel Agbaje.
‘The corpse had been recovered from them and deposited at the Ifo General Hospital mortuary for autopsy,’ Abimbola Oyeyemi, the spokesman of the Ogun State Police Command, said in a statement, on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Edward Awolowo Ajogun, has ordered the immediate transfer of the suspects to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation.
He also appealed to parents to warn their children from partaking in any act capable of undermining the peace of the State.
