Ekiti police arrest four suspected burglars, recover stolen items
By Boye Oyeyemi
The Ekiti State Police Command has arrested four suspected burglars in Ado-Ekiti and recovered various items believed to have been stolen from shops across the state during an intelligence-led operation.
The command’s spokesperson, SP Sunday Abutu, said in a statement on Monday that the suspects, Abdurazak Suleiman, 39; John Okori, 27; Francis Okori, 32; and Kehinde Alabi, 30, were arrested at a suspected criminal hideout in the Omisanjana area of the state capital.
Abutu said operatives of the Ado Central Police Division carried out the raid in the early hours of Sunday after acting on credible intelligence. He said the operation led to the arrest of the four suspects without incident.
A search of the apartment, according to the police spokesperson, yielded assorted perfumes, soaps, alcoholic drinks, food items, body care products, clothing materials, a school bag, a 3kg gas cylinder and a sledgehammer suspected to have been used to break into shops.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects lived in the same apartment and had been linked to a recent burglary at a shop in the Ekute Quarters area of Ado-Ekiti, near the Water Works construction site, where some of them reportedly worked as labourers.
Abutu said efforts were underway to identify the owner of the affected shop and other possible victims to facilitate the return of the recovered items. He added that detectives were also investigating whether the suspects were connected to other burglary cases within the state.
Reacting, the Commissioner of Police, Micheal Falade, reaffirmed the command’s commitment to intelligence-led policing and sustained efforts to protect lives and property across Ekiti.
Falade urged residents to continue supporting the police by providing prompt and credible information that could aid crime prevention and investigation. He assured the public that all information received would be treated with strict confidentiality while the investigation continues.
