OGUN: Three teenage cultists arrested for planning reprisal in Lagos school

THE rotten underbelly of the Nigerian society was further exposed yesterday when a cult group, comprising three pupils and an apprentice tailor, was apprehended by the operatives of the Lagos Police Command two days ago.

The suspects were said to be be plotting a reprisal against their rival cult members who are pupils of a secondary school in Akinyele, Alakuko area of Lagos when policemen from the Division rounded them up

The arrested suspects were identified as Tosin, 18; Sunday, 15; Olayinka, 14 and 15-year-old Ayomide.

The spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, CSP Muyiwa Adejobi, in a statement yesterday the police struck on getting wind of the planned attack.

He said, “The police operatives attached to the Alakuko Division of the Lagos State Police Command on Friday, April 16, 2021, arrested four suspected cultists who came from Ogun State for a reprisal against their rival cult members at the Junior Secondary Schools, Akinyele, Alakuko, Lagos State.”

Adejobi stated that Tosin and Olayinka are pupils of a community high school in Ijoko, Ogun State, while Babatunde is a secondary school pupil in Dalemo.

“Sunday is a tailoring apprentice at Dalemo,” the police spokesman said, adding that items such as “cutlasses, weeds suspected to be Indian hemp and assorted charms were recovered from them.”

Also, detectives at D9 (Anti-Robbery) Section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Panti, Yaba, were said to have apprehended three suspected robbers, Victor Alfred, Chubike Donatus, and Isiaka Olamide – all 19 years – at a hotel on Ajibike Street, Ogudu, Ojota, around 3am on Saturday.

Adejobi said, “One Beretta pistol, weeds suspected to be Indian hemp and assorted charms were recovered from them. The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Hakeem Odumosu, ordered that the suspected cultists be moved to the command’s Special Squad, Ikeja, for proper investigation and possible arrest of other members of their gang, while the suspected armed robbers be properly investigated and profiled by the Anti-Robbery Section of the SCIID. The police boss reiterated his commitment to eradicating cult-related crises and other forms of criminality in Lagos and making the state hot for the survival and operations of any cult or armed robbery group.”