The Oyo State Police Command says it has arrested 78 members of the dissolved Park Management System, while their ring leader, Mukaila Lamidi, aka Auxillary, escaped arrest.
The Command Commissioner, CP Adebowale Williams, made this known while parading the suspects on Tuesday.
The suspects were paraded at the command’s headquarters in Eleyele, Ibadan.
Williams said that 49 of the arrested suspects were males, while 29 were females.
He said that several arms and ammunition, charms and N3.4 million cash were recovered from the hotel of the former PMS chief, now on the run.
According to him, other weapons found in possession of the suspects included 84 AK-47 rifles, 19 pump actions, 724 live cartridges, 25 cutlasses and seven cut to size guns.
Williams said the command was able to make the arrests and foiled their plans to cause mayhem in the state sequel to the immediate dissolution of the PMS Disciplinary Committee.
Governor Seyi Makinde had on Monday shortly after his inauguration for the second term in office dissolved the Disciplinary Committee of the Park Management System being operated by members of the banned National Union of Road Transport Workers.
The police chief said: “The proactive nature of the command, while acting on intelligence-driven surveillance, led to the arrest of the suspects.”
Williams said that the command had on Tuesday in “a strategic intelligence coordinated raided Lamidi’s location at Diamond Hotel, Alakia-Isebo and arrest of 78 suspected hoodlums”.
Williams said that the suspects had perfected plans to unleash mayhem in the early hours of Tuesday in major parts of the Metropolis and were subsequently arrested in possession of sophisticated firearms.
He said: “In addition, during the raid, sophisticated firearms were recovered inside the hotel rooms and in the trunk compartment of the parked vehicles within the hotel.
“Worthy of note is that though, the PMS chieftain, Lamidi, was able to escape with some of his boys during the gun duel with the police, however, a member of the group was neutralised in a gun duel with the police.”
Williams said that the same group was alleged to be responsible for the attack on 14 members of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria along Agodi axis under Ibadan North-East Local Government area enroute venue of Monday’s inauguration celebrations.
He said that all recovered items were properly documented, packaged and recorded for onward forensics analysis and for evidence purposes in accordance with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 and all other relevant laws.
Williams said the command, under his leadership, reiterates its unwavering commitments toward tackling criminal rascality, hooliganism and blatant disregard for the Rule of Law.
He enjoined residents of the state to cooperate with the police with the provision of useful information to help apprehend the sacked PMS chieftain.
The Commissioner said that residents would from now on “witness high octane patrols, coordinated stop and search along designate points across the nook and cranny of the state”.
Williams said he has directed Area Commanders to personally lead convoy patrols and rings of supervision of police operatives within their respective areas of jurisdiction.
He added: “Thus far, the location and environs is actively monitored with ample deployment of police operatives to boost the confidence of residents against any fear of molestation or harassment as they go about their legitimate businesses.”
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