The Ondo State Security Network Agency, Amotekun Corps, has arrested 53 suspects over alleged involvement in kidnapping, murder, attempted murder, burglary, stealing and cultism.
Among those arrested are 21 undocumented foreigners found living in two apartments in Owo, the headquarters of Owo Local Government Area.
The state commander of the corps, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye, said on Monday that the foreigners were arrested following intelligence from members of the Fulani community.
He said they claimed to have entered Nigeria from neighbouring West African countries to engage in menial jobs and phone repairs but could not produce documents authorising their stay.
“I want to call the attention of the general public to the embarrassing way that foreigners traverse the state’s forests and cities under different guises.
“Again today, we have 21 of them that rented only two apartments in Owo under the guise of coming in from neighbouring West African countries to do menial jobs and repairs of phones, being coordinated and assisted by indigenes.
“We found out that they don’t even have ECOWAS papers to guarantee their stay.”
Adeleye warned that foreigners abandoned by their sponsors could become involved in criminal activities.
“Apart from being likely to be suspected illegal immigrants, most times when their sponsors abandon them, they become ready tools as criminals and accomplices,” he said.
He added that four suspects had been arrested over an alleged self-kidnapping scheme in which false alarms were raised on social media to extort money.
“We have four people here today that give self-kidnapping and raise false alarms using social media. We moved in and were able to arrest the first two,” he said.
Adeleye also said seven suspected kidnappers were arrested through collaboration with the Fulani community. A military uniform was recovered from one of them, while two kidnapped boys were rescued.
He said one of the victims had suffered machete wounds but was rescued alive and was receiving treatment.
“With the cooperation we received from the Fulani community, we were able to jointly carry out an operation where a military uniform was recovered from one of the kidnappers, and we successfully retrieved the two kidnapped boys, though wounded.
“In an attempt to kill one of them, they macheted his head, his body and every part of him. We brought him back alive and he is now stable.”
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