By IGE ADEKUNLE

The Ogun Police Command say it has arrested nine suspected cultists, engaged in fighting and causing trouble in Ifo and its environs in the state.

The Commissioner of Police, Mr Kenneth Ebrimson, said on Friday that in the course of week, he had directed area police command around the Sango-Ota and its environs to deploy personnel to the area due to the fight that broke out as a result of supremacy battle between two rival cults.

“These hoodlums are using the opportunity to steal and commit others criminal activities around Ifo and the environs,” Ebrimson said in a statement by the State Police Public Relation Officer, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi.

According to him, it was the development that necessitated the deploying of SARS, Anti-cultism Unit and Anti-kidnapping Unit to areas like Ifo, Owode-Ijako, Joju, Ijoko and Agbado, which led to the arrest of six suspected cultists.

He explained that five suspected cultists were arrested at Ijako area of Sango-Ota, while another was arrested around Winners Church area, along Idiroko.

Ebrimson added that the suspect nabbed around Winners Church, was caught with a locally made short gun loaded with five live cartridges and charms.

He said that the operatives extended their operation to Araromi community in Agbado, where three other suspects were arrested with face mask and charms.

The commissioner added that 10 of the hoodlums had earlier been arrested in different areas in Ifo and its environs.

Meanwhile, the police boss has ordered that all the arrested suspects be transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS), for discreet investigation.

He equally ordered the continuation of the operation until arrest of the last hoodlum.

Ebrimson appealed to members of the public not to be unnecessarily apprehensive as the command would continue to do everything within its power to ensure that the good people of Ogun enjoyed adequate security during and after this trying period of the country.

He also advised the public to always reach out to the command through the control room number 08081770416 whenever they were in distress. (NAN)

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