The Ogun state police command, southwest Nigeria, have arrested 150 suspected robbers and cultists involved in a series of robberies in some parts of the state following supremacy clashes between rival cult groups in Ifo and Sango-Ota axis of the state amid coronavirus lockdown.
Afriupdate reports that the suspects were arrested in parts of Ifo and Ado-Odo/Ota areas of the Gateway state.
It was learned that residents of Owode, Ilepa, Ifo, Arigbajo, Itori, Dalemo, Ijoko Joju, Sango Ota, Ifo, Agbado- Ijaiye among other communities had complained about a spate of robberies and cult clashes.
But commissioner of police in the state, Kenneth Ebrimson, who took reporters round the troubled councils, after parading the 150 suspects, refuted the claim that robbers had taken over Ifo and Ado/Odo/Ota areas of Ogun.
He said it was a case of cult clashes among seven rival groups within the areas as a result of the killing of one of them.
Ebrimson explained that his men smoked the suspected criminals out of their hideouts and recovered various weapons.
He said: “The Genesis of this was from some criminal gangs that engaged in supremacy battle in Ifo and spread to Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of the state.
“It started on April 4, and the command tactical operation arrested some hoodlums and ammunition.
“I want to say that there was no single case of armed robbery, no case of kidnapping has been reported. Nobody has been killed.
See also: 15 Injured As Two Cult Groups Clash In Ibadan
“The basic issue is cultism that emanated from the killing of one of them in Ifo and spread to Sango, Ijoko and Agbado.”
“We recovered eight locally made guns, 52 live cartridges, eight knives, 12 handsets, two scissors, large quantity of weeds and several cutlasses,” he said.“
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