Ondo Amotekun arrests 301 suspects in three months

Amotekun. | Credit: Abiodun Nejo.

The Ondo State Security Network Agency, also known as the Amotekun Corps, arrested 301 suspects across the state’s 18 local government areas between August and October 2026.

The state Commander of the corps, Adetunji Adeleye, disclosed this on Tuesday during the parade of some suspects at the corps’ headquarters in Akure, the state capital.

He said some of the suspects had been charged to court, while others had been convicted and were serving various jail terms or had fulfilled conditions attached to fines.

Adeleye said, “Across the board, within these months under review, we arrested 301 suspects and out of these 301 suspects, we have secured convictions, with some serving various jail terms or fulfilling conditions for those that have options of fine.

“Using alternative dispute resolution in many cases, we were able to resolve a total of 102 cases.

“We were able to go this far because of the active support we have from the Amotekun ambassadors in the 18 local governments, plain-clothes intelligence operatives, local task forces, local vigilantes and, of course, officers and men of the corps.”

The commander also announced the creation of a new squad in the corps, known as Operation Laafia DanDan, which he said would focus on training and retraining personnel across the state.

He said Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa would soon launch the squad.

“I want to let you know that we are going to launch Operation Laafia DanDan. It has to do with training and retraining of personnel across the 18 local governments. It actually involves training and retraining our investigating officers, mechanics and drivers,” Adeleye said.

On the latest arrests, he said 15 suspects were paraded, including nine arrested over alleged kidnapping-related offences, four over anti-grazing violations and two over alleged breaches of law and order.

He said the corps had arrested three suspected kidnappers allegedly involved in the abduction of a poultry farmer and the killing of a woman.

“We have on parade here 15 suspects. In the 15 suspects, we have four on anti-grazing, two on breach of law and order, and nine on kidnap-related cases,” he said.

“The parade today is not going to be the usual parade. It’s going to be an opportunity for us to showcase our scorecard in terms of fighting criminal activities in Ondo State between August 2026 and October ending 2026.

“We said that we are going to go after the kidnappers. I’m glad to let you know that we were able to apprehend the three major kidnappers that actually kidnapped the poultryman and killed a lady. They are with us today.”