Operatives of the Ondo state security outfit, also known as Amotekun, have arrested 149 suspected criminal with weapons hidden inside a trucks.
INFORMATION NIGERIA learnt that the suspects were inside trucks coming into the state when arrested at three local government areas of the state.
Reacting to the arrest on Tuesday, in Akure, the state Commander of the Corps, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye said that the suspects were apprehended at some black spots in the local government areas where they were caught.
He said: “A couple of weeks ago, we started having a very heavy influx of strange people within our forest reserve areas and the Ondo State territory.
“The majority of these people who claimed that they were coming into the state as hunters, were arrested around the black spots where we have robbery operations and kidnapping in the local governments where they were nabbed.
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“They surprisingly and carefully concealed and kept their weapons, bags of Indian hemp, and cutlasses under their vehicles and they claimed that they were coming from the various parts of the country.
“The 149 suspects have been profiled, while some of them are still being questioned. The pertinent question we are asking them, is that is “why are they hiding their guns”?
“If they are genuine hunters, why not come out openly, one begins to wonder why they would come from the extreme parts of the country to hunt in a village, in a forest they have never been to before in Ondo state.
“We have very strong reasons to believe that they are the people that turn at night to kidnappers, and armed robbers and commit various crimes, especially in the bad portions of the roads and in the forest reserves of the state.”