The Oyo State Police Command says it has arrested 22 suspects linked with armed robbery, cultism and attempted murder in the last one month.
The state’s Commissioner of Police, Shina Olukolu, stated this on Monday while parading the suspects at the command ’s headquarters in Eleyele, Ibadan.
Olukolu said items recovered from the suspects included six cars, eight motorcycles, 18 tricycles, three live cartridges and three locally made guns among others.
He assured the people of the state of safety and urged them to be vigilant and provide useful information that would enable the police to serve them better.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that among the suspects was a notorious cultist belonging to the Aiye confraternity.
The commissioner said the Aiye confraternity had attacked, maimed and unleashed mayhem on innocent members of the public and rival cult members within Ibadan metropolis.
He said: “A team of Special Anti-robbery Squads (SARs) operatives arrested the suspect on March 20 in his hideout after a tip-off.
“The suspected cultist was rusticated from Universal College, Ile-Ife and identified himself as one of the kingpins of Aiye confraternity.
“Six different cell phones were recovered from him and he has confessed to being the mastermind of series of heinous criminal activities within Ibadan,” Olukolu said.
NAN reports that the suspect said he joined cultism while in school in order to fight “ the oppressors.’’
Others also paraded were receivers of stolen cars who were arrested in different hideouts in Kogi and Kwara states.
The commissioner said the suspects would be arraigned in court as soon as the investigation was completed.