By Titus Apalowo
The Police Command in Osun says it has arrested six suspected armed robbers for allegedly snatching an Abuja-bound vehicle of which they were passengers.
The command’s Spokesperson, SP Yemisi Opalola, made this known while parading the suspects at the police headquarters in Osogbo.
She said that the suspects, who boarded the vehicle from Ogun to Abuja, forced the driver to stop at Ikire, Osun, after which they forcefully snatched the Mercedez Benz car at gunpoint.
“On Thursday, June 15, at about 6:30 a.m., a complainant reported at Gbongan Police Division that at about 1:00 a.m. of the same day, he picked four passengers with his unregistered vehicle from OPIC park, Ogun State, heading to Abuja,” he said.
Opalola said on reaching a point around Ikire, the passengers forced him to stop and started shooting to scare him.
She said that while struggling with the suspects, they stabbed him with a knife on his left hand, pushed him out of the vehicle and went away with the car.
The police spokesperson said that the driver/victim, however, said that he could identify the suspects, if he saw them again.
She said that immediately the report was made, a team of policemen on stop-and-search patrol on Ibadan/Ile-Ife expressway was alerted.
“When the suspects sighted the policemen on the road, they quickly abandoned the stolen car and took to their heels, escaping into the bush,” she said.
She said that the policemen pursued the suspects, combed the bushes and arrested two of them.
Opalola further stated that through the efforts of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad, four other suspects were arrested in Lagos in connection with the incident.
In another development, the police spokesperson said that three suspects were arrested in Ilesa for allegedly being unlawfully in possession of firearms.
“The suspects were arrested on Saturday, June 17, along Okepa junction, Osu, by operatives of the Osun Police Safer Highway Patrol.
“The police had recovered a cut-to-size pistol in their possession,” she said.
According to her, all the suspects will be charged to court after the completion of investigation.
