Drama As Katsina Residents Travelling With Truckload Of Weapons Are Nabbed In Ondo

As many 18 suspected criminals from Katsina State arrested in Ondo State with over 500 daggers and other weapons have been arraigned and remanded at the Olokuta Correctional Centre in Akure, the state capital.

The South-West security outfit, Amotekun, had found over 500 knives and daggers concealed in a sack filled with tiger nuts inside the vehicle in which the suspects were travelling and promptly arrested all the occupants of the vehicle.

According to Tribune, the trial of the suspects was confirmed on Saturday by the commander of Amotekun in the state, Adetunji Adeleye, noting that the Chief Magistrates’ Court in Ondo ordered the remand of the suspects for allegedly being in possession of concealed dangerous weapons with an intent, allegedly, to conspire to perpetrate illegal act.

He said the arrested suspects would soon appear in the court again.

Other suspects travelling in two other vehicles were said to have escaped arrest.

SaharaReporters had reported that the suspects claimed to have taken off from Kastina State in three 18-seater passenger buses before arriving in Ondo State and refusing to stop at checkpoints within the state.

The Amotekun boss had, after the arrest of the 18 suspects, said: “We got intelligence that a group of men were coming to invade the state, so we set out our monitoring devices. And at precisely 1.30am on Thursday (November 4, 2021), we saw three hummer buses that we had actually been trailing till they entered the state. 

“They had a brief stop just before they entered the town and our men tried to stop them but the three buses escaped; so we had to radio all our control points and we were able to bring the three buses to a stop at a point on Ondo Road by a combined team of the police and civil defence.

“The buses attempted to overrun the security agents and sped off. The speed was so much that they hit all the barricades on the road. We found out that it was difficult pursuing them in order not to cause accident, so we radioed our station on Owena and the security men there blocked the road to all vehicles.

“But they were able to escape by hitting the barricades again. We continued pursuing them while we called the Ile-Oluji Junction that they should block the road solidly but the drivers, again, escaped.

“But we later organised a complete blockage before the Akure Garage in Ondo town and we were able to apprehend them.

“They claimed to be coming to Akure and the driver said somebody commissioned them from Katsina State but that he didn’t know the content of the bag filled with tiger nuts.

“On opening the bags, we found some guns, rounds of ammunition and also found under the seat about 500 different types and sizes of daggers and poisonous jack knives cleverly concealed under the seats.

“When we asked them what they intended to do, they told us that they were just given instructions to go and that further instructions would be given to them,” he had said.