POLICE ARREST SIX SUSPECTED CULT MEMBERS IN OSUN

 

The suspects on parade.

The Osun State Police Command has arrested six suspected cult members said to be terrorising Osogbo and neighbouring communities.

The Command’s spokesperson, DSP Abiodun Ojelabi, disclosed this in a statement issued on Friday in Osogbo. He said the arrests were part of on-going efforts by the Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Gotan, to clamp down on cultism and other criminal activities in the state.

According to Ojelabi, two suspected cultists were apprehended on August 21 around 6:30 p.m. during a student union week at one of the state’s higher institutions, following an intelligence tip-off.

READ ALSO: LAGOS STATE GOVERMENT TRAINS BRT DRIVERS ON ROAD SAFETY

“The anti-cultism unit arrested two notorious cultists known by their aliases, Orife and Aga, both aged 29. They confessed to being members of the Aiye and Buccaneer confraternities (Alora), respectively,” he said.

Earlier, on August 19, police operatives acting on credible intelligence raided Okuku town, where four more suspects believed to be cult members were arrested. The suspects reportedly admitted to belonging to the Aiye confraternity.

In a related operation, the police stormed the hideouts of armed hoodlums suspected to be members of the Eiye confraternity, allegedly led by one Gafari, who had been terrorising residents of Gbeja and Oke-Baale areas of Osogbo. The suspects fled on sighting the officers, but weapons were recovered from their den, including a cut-to-size single-barrel gun, a cut-to-size double-barrel gun, five cutlasses, an axe, and three live cartridges.

Ojelabi said investigations are ongoing, and all arrested suspects will be charged in court upon completion.

Quoting CP Gotan, he added that students must shun cultism and concentrate on their studies, warning that the law would deal decisively with anyone caught in such criminal activities.