From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
Operatives of the Edo State Police Command have paraded a 42-year-old man, identified as Oji Okoro, for allegedly sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy.
Okoro was paraded alongside 15 other suspects arrested for various offences, including alleged kidnapping, vandalism, staged kidnapping and unlawful possession of firearms.
Parading the suspects, the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Eno Ikoedem, said Okoro was arrested over an alleged “unnatural offence” involving the minor.
“This man, Oji Okoro, committed an unnatural offence involving a 12-year-old boy,” Ikoedem said.
Also paraded was 26-year-old Donatus Martins, who was arrested alongside an accomplice for allegedly vandalising cables and other equipment belonging to Africa Independent Television (AIT) at its Benin office.
According to the police spokesperson, the suspects allegedly vandalised equipment worth more than N4 million at the television station’s premises after it ceased operations.
Martins, however, confessed to participating in the vandalism, saying the stolen items were sold to buyers.
He said: “The first one, we stole three DVDs and three cables of copper wire. We sold them for N75,000 and paid the bike man N5,000.
“The second operation was N90,000. The buyer gave us N70,000, so N20,000 was remaining. It was during the third operation that we were caught.”
Martins, who said he works as a bricklayer, explained that whenever he was without construction work, he and his accomplice resorted to stealing metal items and selling them to buyers to make a living.
Another suspect, Chigozie Anthony, was paraded for allegedly luring a girl he met on TikTok to his residence, kidnapping her and demanding N500,000 ransom from her parents.
The police alleged that the ransom was paid before Anthony was arrested.
Anthony, however, denied kidnapping the girl, claiming that she was his girlfriend and that they jointly planned the incident.
He said: “It was a plan between me and my girlfriend.
“We had been chatting for more than a month before she came to my place.
“She told me she wanted to start a business. She said that after completing the nursing training she was undergoing, she would need about N800,000.
“She will finish her nursing training next month. She then asked me to hide her so that her family would pay money.
“That was how I hid her and demanded N500,000, which her parents paid.”
Meanwhile, Ajayi Godwin was arrested and paraded for alleged unlawful possession of firearms in Auchi.
Akinla Lawrence and his accomplice were also paraded for allegedly vandalising pipelines in the Okada axis of Ovia North-East Local Government Area of the state.
The police said investigations into the various cases were ongoing.
(The Sun)
