Suspect swallows ID card to destroy evidence* cultists arrested

Juliana Francis

 Police detectives were shocked when a fake policeman who was arrested at the Iyana-Ipaja area of Lagos State, swallowed the fake police identity card in his possession, in order to destroy all evidences of his parading himself as a genuine policeman.

 The Deputy Police spokesman, Damasus Ozoani, explained that the 28-year-old suspect had been parading himself before members of the public as a police constable.

The suspect was putting on Man-O-War uniform with police badge on the shoulders.

Ozoani said: ``He has been parading himself as genuine police Constable. He put on Man O war uniform with Mopol 20 police badge on his shoulders. Some police officers detected this and arrested him.

“As soon as he was arrested, he swallowed the fake police identity card he was holding. He confessed he was a security guard in one hotel at Omole Estate.

``He claimed that he bought the police badge from an undisclosed person he met in a beer parlour.’’

Paraded along with the fake police constable were three others.

Ozoani said that the three other suspects were arrested for allegedly involving in cult activities in Epe area of Lagos, where dangerous weapons were freely used during a fight between two rival groups.

Ozoani said that one of the suspects, a National Diploma 2 Business Administration student from the Lagos State Polytechnic, allegedly claimed to belong to Black Axe confraternity.

He said that the Black Axe group had a clash with Eiye confraternity at Asarodeen area of Epe over an undisclosed matter.

The spokesman said that two live cartridges were recovered from the suspects, while others escaped. Injuries, suspected to be machete cuts were seen on the bodies of one of the suspects.

 The police are also on the trail of scores of members of Eiye and Aiye confraternities, whose members had on several occasions clashed, leading to death of innocent people.

The arrested suspects include:  Oluwaseyi Adewunmi, Borokinni Idowu and Olasote Olawale, who were all arrested after a deadly clash around Ansar Ud Deen School in Epe on the 20^th of September 2013.

Ozoani added that the arrest of the suspects followed a clampdown on cult activities in the state.

It also gathered that policemen from the Epe divisional police station, while responding to a distress call of a clash between two rival cult groups arrested the trio of Olwaseyi, Idowu and Olawale.

Olasote Olawale, confessed to being a cult member, but insisted he was not among those that fought.

Olawale, who claimed to be a member of Aiye Fraternity blamed member of the rival group, Eiye, for most of the troubles and clashes in the Epe area of the state.