Ogun Police arrest suspected kidnapper trafficking children to Benin Republic

• The police disclosed that Adeleke and his gang specialised in kidnapping children to sell in neighbouring Benin Republic

A member of a kidnapping and child trafficking syndicate , Tayo Adeleke, has been arrested in Ogun, the police in the state said on Tuesday.

The police disclosed that Adeleke and his gang specialised in kidnapping children to sell in neighbouring Benin Republic.

The suspect is in detention currently undergoing interrogation over a botched mission he made with two other men, now at large, to abduct children at Omu Pempe community in Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State on Tuesday.

It was gathered that the suspects had stormed the Baptist church in Omu Pempe at about 2:00 am with a motorcycle.

Their plan, it was learnt, was to cart away children from the church and sell them in the Republic of Benin but nemesis caught up with them.

The Ogun State police spokesperson, Omolola Odutola, confirmed the development.

She stated that Adeleke was apprehended with the joint effort of the police, the So-Safe Corps and other vigilante groups in the said community, even as his colleagues escaped through the bush.

The police image maker also said the suspect confessed during interrogation that, “they came to the area to kidnap children. He said they have a syndicate and they have been kidnapping children and selling them to the Republic of Benin. We have arrested one and he will help in bringing others to book.”

Odutola also told DAILY POST that kidnappers have observed that the command has taken charge of the highways in Ogun and they are now trying to go into communities to operate.

“So, we are calling on our traditional rulers, our community leaders in the state, to establish an internal security to barricade the entry and exit points to their communities and give security agents the necessary information to aid the security of lives and property. Villagers can easily identify strangers in their communities, they should help the police. Thank God this was a foiled one.

“The Ogun State Command under the Commissioner of Police, CP Abiodun Alamutu, would not relent until criminals are flushed out of Ogun, wherever they are.”