Police said they arrested about 55 suspected criminals and recovered 437 arms and ammunition during the last Christmas and New Year celebrations in parts of Ogun State.

The Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, who paraded the suspects at the state Command Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta, disclosed that the suspects were nabbed over alleged armed robbery, kidnapping, murder, cultism and unlawful possession of firearms.

Eight stolen vehicles and several motorcycles, among other exhibits, were also recovered from the suspects. Iliyasu told journalists that his command embarked on total cleansing of criminal elements during the Yuletide culminating in the arrest of the suspects. According to him, the recovered guns included 10 AK47, 15 pump action rifles and 16 locally-made pistols.

He added that 75 cartridges and 321 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition were also recovered by policemen during the period. The commissioner explained that the suspects included four members of an armed robbery gang that attacked and shot a police officer on the Sagamu-Benin Expressway. He said: “On December 28, a distress call was received on Sagamu-Benin Expressway about a gang of armed robbers operating on that road. The robbers attacked and shot one Assistant Superintendent of Police, Oluwatobi Iwata, attached to the Police Mobile Force 17, Akure. On the strength of the distress call, FSARS operatives were dispatched to the scene and they encountered the robbers in gun duel at Odogbolu junction. At the end of the encounter, one of the robbers was shot dead while four were arrested. A Lexus RX 330 jeep which they earlier snatched in Lagos was also recovered from them, among other exhibits.”

Iliyasu also narrated how his men busted a kidnap syndicate, whose members operated in states across the South-West, and recovered different dangerous weapons from them.

He said: “On January 5, 2018, men of FSARS received information about a kidnap syndicate whose nefarious activities cut across Ogun State and other neighbouring states.

Technical intelligence led the operatives to their hideout at Itele-Ijebu and the place was stormed by the operatives led by Inspector Kazeem Yusuf where one member of the gang by name, Femi Aresu, was arrested.

“He subsequently led the team to their various hideouts within and outside Ogun, Lagos, Oyo and Ondo where 10 other members of the gang were arrested with arms and ammunition. They have confessed to be responsible for more than five kidnap cases across the South-West region.”

The police boss reiterated the commitment of his command towards combating crime to a standstill in 2018.

He said: “We are not going to rest on our oars and the battle will be taken to the door steps of the criminals and men of the underworld, until the state is rid of all sorts of crime and criminality.”