The Kwara State Police Command has arrested several suspects in separate investigations involving child abuse, murder, kidnapping, suspected ritual activities and motorcycle theft.
The Commissioner of Police, Ojo Adekimi, disclosed this in an interview with Arewa PUNCH, explaining that the arrests followed public tips, intelligence gathering and collaboration with local hunters and vigilante groups.
One of the cases involved a 12-year-old girl, Misturah Babatunde, whose alleged torture was uncovered after a concerned resident spotted her buying GV solution from a chemist in the Idigba area of Adewole, Ilorin, at about 9.26pm on September 30.
The resident reportedly questioned the girl about her presence outside late at night, prompting her to reveal that she had been beaten with an electrical wire and burnt with a hot coal-pot after losing N100 while hawking soya beans for her stepmother.
The police identified the suspects as the girl’s biological father, Babatunde Mustapha; her stepmother, Abdulrahman Aisat; and their neighbour, Bashirat Abdulfatai.
The command said the trio had been arraigned and remanded at the Oke-Kura Correctional Facility.
In another case, operatives arrested Abu Jimoh and Ayo Jimoh on October 8 while they were allegedly digging graves at a cemetery in Omupo.
The investigation followed the discovery in May that some graves had been disturbed and the heads of buried bodies were missing. The suspects reportedly named a herbalist, Mukaila Bello, as the alleged buyer of the missing human heads.
The command also arrested Kamalden Lukmon and AbdulGaniyu Ibrahim along Bakase Road in Alapa on October 8, recovering two suspected human hands.
According to the police, the suspects allegedly intended to use the body parts for money-making rituals and claimed that a vigilante member, Abdulraf Apata, had handed them over. The allegation against Apata is being investigated.
In a separate murder case, a 25-year-old man, Salihu Seidu, was arrested over the killing of his 65-year-old father-in-law, Alhaji Lawal Umar, at a Fulani camp in Agah Village, Moro Local Government Area.
The deceased was found with multiple machete wounds on October 6. Police said Seidu allegedly confessed to the killing, claiming he believed Umar was responsible for the death of his son about two weeks earlier.
The police also arrested Abubakar Usman, popularly known as Jaye, over alleged involvement in kidnapping incidents in Oke-Ode and Oro-Ago, as well as the killing of vigilante members in Ifelodun Local Government Area.
The command further accused him of threatening to abduct a cattle-rearing association leader and demanding N10m ransom. Usman reportedly confessed to involvement in the crimes under investigation.
Another suspect, 25-year-old Saba Ismail, was arrested over an alleged telephone threat to kidnap a resident of Batakan in Edu Local Government Area unless N10m was paid.
Meanwhile, Ahamdu Dahiru, suspected of belonging to a kidnapping gang linked to a wanted kingpin known as Aro, was arrested following intelligence reports.
Police said he allegedly admitted leading four kidnapping operations and directed operatives to a forest where four AK-47 rifles were reportedly buried, but the weapons were no longer there.
The command also announced the arrest of Umaru Ahmadu over alleged links to the abduction of two people from a Fulani settlement in Okeya, as well as three suspected motorcycle thieves identified as Mohamed Umar, Aliyu Aliyu and Babuga Umar.
A red Bajaj motorcycle was recovered from the latter group. In another operation, Musa Hussein was arrested along the Afon axis over alleged links to kidnapping and other crimes in the Orile Igbon area of Oyo State.
The police said investigations were ongoing and the suspects would be arraigned where allegations were established.
