The Ondo State Security Agency, Amotekun Corps has entered into agreement with other security agencies in Edo and Kogi states to jointly combat criminals, particularly kidnappers, who operate on the bother lines.
Three among the kidnappers of guests who were returning from a funeral ceremony in Edo State last Saturday, were apprehended in a forest on the border of Ondo State and Edo State as a mark of the effectiveness of the pact,Commander of Amotekun Corps in the state, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye,said.
He disclosed this while speaking with journalists at the headquarters of the formation at Alagbaka, Akure, the state capital, during the parade of 20 criminals arrested within the last one week in the state,where he also said that the corps tracked the phones of the kidnappers to the point where the three kidnappers were arrested.
The kidnappers claimed that they were helping their bosses to charge their phones, while their had gone on out.
The Amotekun boss stated that the synergy became necessary when it was discovered that most of the kidnappers usually sneaked into the state from the neighbouring states and after operations at the border lines, they took their victims to their resident states and began to negotiate with the families of the abductees for ransom.
He explained that since the Amotekun Corps could not enter the neighbouring states outside Southwest with firearms, it became so difficult for them to track down the criminals.
Meanwhile, no fewer than 20 suspected criminals arrested with the last one week were paraded for different crimes.
Among them was an interstate syndicate that specializes in robbing people of their smartphones in broad day light without their victims suspecting.
The 3-man syndicate, lodged in a 5-Star hotel in Akure with one of their girl friends, and hired commercial motorbike riders to take them round the metropolis for assessment.
Having gone round, on the following day, they hit the streets stealing people’s expensive phones in cunning ways that had rehearsed and applied severally successfully.
When apprehended by Amotekun Corps, they took the officials of the formation to locations of their victims.
Some of the victims, who were at the Amotekun Corps headquarters to identify their handsets and collect them, were able to identify the robbers.