Two dismissed soldiers arrested for armed robbery in Oyo

By Suleiman Shehu

Two dismissed officers of the Nigerian Army have been arrested for alleged involvement in snatching vehicles at gunpoint and disrupt public peace in Oyo state.

One of the suspects aged 48, a dismissed Corporal of the Nigerian Army, falsely paraded himself as an Army Captain while the second aged 43, was also a dismissed Corporal of the Nigerian Army, Oyo Police Command’s spokesman, DSP Ayanlade Olayinka, said in a statement made available to newsmen on Wednesday in Ibadan.

According to him, the arrest of the suspects was made possible through credible intelligence and an intense manhunt carried out by the operatives of the command’s Monitoring Unit within Ibadan metropolis.

Olayinka said the suspects specialised in dispossessing unsuspecting members of the public of their vehicles at gunpoint, instilled fear on them and disrupt public peace within the state.

He listed the items recovered from the suspects during the operation to include one Toyota Camry, black in colour, with registration number KRD 253 KC and one Toyota Corolla, metallic in colour, with registration number JTA 938 AA.

“Others were one Lexus RX 350, silver in colour, unregistered; and one Super Cargo motorcycle, black in colour, with registration number YRE 487 VD,” he said.

The Oyo Police Command spokesperson called on members of the public who might have lost their vehicles to armed robbery or theft, and whose vehicle descriptions matched any of the recovered exhibits to approach the command with valid proofs of ownership and means of identification.

He added that the suspects were currently assisting the command with credible information that could aid in apprehending other members of the criminal syndicates. (NAN)