Armed men believed to be Fulani herdsmen otherwise called Bororo yesterday attacked a team of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) at Saki, Oke Ogun area of Oyo State and killed its Commander, identified simply as Supol Sheu. This came as police yesterday said they had rescued three travellers abducted on Tuesday by gunmen suspected to be herdsmen on Ore-Benin Expressway in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State. Saki residents, who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone, said the armed herdsmen used to rob and rape women in the night.
To check their excesses, the SARS men were deployed to patrol the area. About four kilometres to Saki from Ogbooro, within the Saki-Ogbooro axis of Orelope Local Government area, the armed men opened fire on the SARS men.
A source said “the Bororo herdsmen have always been notorious for that. They use their AK 47 to guard their cattle during the day and use it to commit nefarious activities at night.
“The Superintendent of Police was a very nice, gentle and well-behaved officer. He hailed from Kebbi State as I learnt. He used to relate with civilians in very civil manner. His death is very sad. With this, I believe the security operatives will take the issue of herdsmen’s attacks and robberies more seriously.”
Security sources said more SARS men were deployed later in the evening to apprehend the killer herdsmen. The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Adekunle Ajisebutu, confirmed the killing.
He said: “It is true that an officer of ours was murdered. We have arrested four suspects and we are already investigating them.”
Meanwhile, the kidnapped victims – Nwosu Virginia, Opara Olushi and Oke chucku Johnson – said they were going to Lagos State from Imo State when they ran into the roadblock mounted by the gunmen, who abducted them and took them into the bush.
The Ondo State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Femi Joseph, said the victims were abandoned in the bush when the police were on their trail.
The victims, he said, had been taken to the Police Clinic at Alagbaka in Akure, the state capital, to be treated of various degrees of injury they suffered during the encounter with the hoodlums. Joseph said one of the victims told the police that the hoodlums mounted roadblock looking for people to be kidnapped. He said the hoodlums were not Nigerians the way they related with them during their shot stay in captivity.
This came as the police paraded two suspects, Sunday Fatoki and Adamu Mohammed, who were said to be receivers of stolen vehicles. Joseph said the suspects were arrested in connection with a Toyota Camry stolen in the state but sold by the robbers. He explained that the two suspects were arrested after some of their accomplices were arrested in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. Joseph explained that Fatoki, a native of Ogbomosho in Oyo State, was nabbed after the police followed a clue gathered through intelligence report.
He said that the arrest of Fatoki, who claimed to be a trader in Ibadan, led to the arrest of Mohammed in Kaduna. Fatoki, who lives in Imalefalafia area of Ibadan, explained that he bought the vehicle from a man who was introduced to him by one of his friends.
He said: “I bought the Toyota Camry through a friend at the sum of N850,000 and subsequently sold it out at N1.3 million to an Hausa man in Kaduna who was arrested with me. “I never knew it was a stolen vehicle, I knew nothing about the robbery operation but I bought the car from them not knowing it was a stolen vehicle.” Joseph, however, said the two suspects were now helping the police in their investigation in connection with other crimes. Similarly, the police have arrested seven suspected kidnappers at Owo in Owo Local Government Area.
The suspects, Joseph said, were from Zuru town in Kebbi State. The PPRO said the suspected kidnappers claimed to be on hunting expedition in the locality. He said: “Our men on patrol got information that some men suspected to be kidnappers were sighted at a location in Owo inside a vehicle with so many locally- made guns. We swung into action and consequently the suspects were arrested and taken to the station with the exhibits recovered from them.”
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