Eight suspects believed to be involved in motorcycle theft have been apprehended by the Ekiti State Police Command.
In a statement released by DSP Sunday Abutu, the police revealed that the Rapid Response Squad of the Command carried out the arrests.
The police statement emphasized the crackdown on criminal activities, specifically the rampant motorcycle theft in regions like Ado-Ekiti and other identified areas in the state. The Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, CP AKINWALE KUNLE ADENIRAN, mni, ordered a thorough search for perpetrators terrorizing civilians.
As a result of this directive, the Command’s Rapid Response Squad (RRS) successfully apprehended individuals including Adebayo Bashiru (known as BASHY), Oluyemi Kunle (known as GBEGBE), Gabriel Isaac, Abubakar Abdullahi, Macon Andrew, and Peter Ninfa. These suspects were notorious for stealing vehicles and motorcycles in Ikere/Ado-Ekiti and Igede-Ekiti.
Following interrogations, the suspects confessed to multiple motorcycle thefts within the mentioned areas and implicated Lawali Ibrahim and Kabiru Abdullahi as their accomplices who would purchase the stolen motorcycles from them.
Further investigations led to the arrest of three buyers who admitted to transporting seven of the stolen motorcycles to the Northern part of Nigeria for resale. One unregistered Yellow Color Bajaj Boxer Motorcycle was recovered from the suspects at the time of their arrest. Several victims positively identified this motorcycle as the one used by the robbers during their criminal activities.
It was also highlighted that on 25/04/2024, the Oye Divisional Police headquarters, with the help of Trinity Hostel Area residents in Oye-Ekiti, apprehended a notorious motorcycle thief named Bernard Shadrach, who had been involved in numerous motorcycle thefts in Oye-Ekiti. One of his gang members is currently evading arrest.