Police in Ogun have arrested no fewer than eight suspected cultists in different parts of Ifo Local Government Area of the state for alleged murder.
Police identified the suspects as members of Eiye and Aiye cult groups who were allegedly involved in the murder of a notorious cultist, aka Ofada.
State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, made this known in a statement on Monday.
Oyeyemi said the Command on Sunday clamped down on cult members who were engaged in a supremacy battle in the Ifo area of the state.
He said the supremacy battle claimed the life of one of them simply identified as Ofada, who was shot dead by rival cultists.
The PPRO said a distress call was subsequently made to the police in Ifo Divisional Headquarters and the DPO, CSP Adekunle Adeniyi, led his men to the scene where they met two others with gunshot injuries.
Oyeyemi said, “The DPO and his men subsequently moved and traced the rampaging cultists to Iyana Coker Area where three amongst them namely: Soji Olamilekan, 29, Shobande Olalekan, 26, and Solomon Fadebi 33, were arrested.
“On interrogation, they informed the police that other members have fled to Osuke area of Onipanu Ota where they were planning to launch another round of attack.
“Based on the information, the DPO Onipanu Division was contacted and he quickly moved to Osuke area where he met a group of cultists holding a meeting in a bush.
“On sighting the policemen, the hoodlums took to their heels but they were hotly chased and with the assistance of the youths in the area, four amongst the cultists, Balogun Oluwaseun, 22, Joseph Onwe, 24, Peter Raphael, 22, and Yusuf Emmanuel, 26, were apprehended.”
He further said while the investigation was going on, information got to the police that one of the cultists was seen receiving treatment for a gunshot injury in Arobiye Village, Ota.
He said the DPO Onipanu immediately got the suspect, 22-year-old Toheeb Olorunkemi, arrested.
“He confessed to participating in the Ifo crisis where he received gunshot injury,” the police spokesman said.
One locally made pistol, six live cartridges, four different types of handsets, one black beret and a small bag were recovered from the suspects.
“The corpse of the slain cultist has been recovered and taken to the general hospital mortuary Ifo, while the injured ones have been taken to the same general hospital for medical care,” Oyeyemi said.
He said the Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun, has ordered the transfer of the suspects to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for discreet investigation, adding that the CP also directed a serious manhunt for the remaining members of the groups in order to put their notorious activities to a permanent end.