3 robbery suspects arrested in Osun

ABIODUN FELIX, Osogbo


[b]in the ancient town Four months after the bloody multiple bank robberies  of Ile-Ife, Osun state, the State Police command has arrested three more suspects for alleged involvement in the robbery in which no fewer than five persons including a policeman were killed.

The ancient town of Ile-Ife was thrown into pandemonium on December 15, last year, when a gang of robbers took the town hostage for hours in multiple bank robberies.

During the robbery, leader of the gang, One Alhaji Jelili Adebayo, an Ibadan based motor dealer was killed at a shootout with the police while, one Bunmi Babatope who claims to be a vice principal and Economics teacher at Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife was arrested.

Parading the suspects in Osogbo, the state capital, yesterday, the Police Public Relations officer, (PPRO), Clement Akinola (ASP) said the additional suspects were arrested following an extensive investigation of those in the police custody.

He said the two suspects were picked up by a special anti robbery Squad (SARS) at Ororuwo, a community near Iragbiji, Headquarters of Boripe Local Government of the state.

The suspects were paraded alongside a Toyota car with Registration No: AQ73GNN in which two military and police AK 47 rifles and nine magazines which were recovered from the new gang.

Akinnola said the newly arrested suspects, led by one Bamidele Shina had last month robbed a commercial bank in Iragbiji.

Akinola described the arrest as another achievement recorded by the Osun State Police Command in connection with the Ife bank robbery.

He disclosed that on April 28, SARS arrested two more suspects namely Olarenwaju Kehinde 38 and Jimoh Akeem (40) while Bamidele Oluwaseyi (Aka Tudor) was killed when he allegedly attempted to escape.

He confirmed that based on interrogation of the suspects arrested and the TV Circuit camera at the banks, the police are on the trail of 10 more members of the gang who took part in the Ife bank raid and that the arrest of Kehinde and Akeem was made possible based on information from the public. According to him, since the Ife bank raid, SARS operatives have been on the case until the arrest of two more suspects at Ororuwo and Ibadan.

He said the police was not in a hurry to take the suspect to court for prosecution saying "until we complete all investigations, into the robbery incident and all the suspects arrested, we are not likely to rush to court for prosecution"[/b]

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