Five suspected fraudsters have been arrested by Amotekun operatives at Ikere-Ekiti, the Ekiti State Commandant of Amotekun, Brigadier-General Joe Komolafe has confirmed.
The Commandant said the suspects were caught after a victim made a report.
General Komolafe said: “Their modus operandi is that they will call you, tell you they have seen vision for you for your life to be ok, go and bring this, go and bring that. They dupe people to the extent that the victims are threatened that they would lose every member of their family.
“How did it start? My colleague in Ogun State put a call to me that one of the people staying in Abeokuta, in Ogun State was duped to the tune of about N2.5m or there about by some group in Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State, threatening to kill him, that I should please assist.”
He said his men then traced the alleged fraudsters to Ikere-Ekiti.
The Commandant continued: “Here we are, five of them were arrested in their shrines at Ikere. We were able to destroy part of the shrines, and brought some to our office.
“We are engaged in thorough investigation to get more of such suspects. These are not the only people, they are just a fraction of the people we are looking for in the State. There was a time we went to Atikankan to arrest some of them.”
The 40-year-old victim, Udany James, who said he is an indigene of Benue State but resides in Ogun State where he is engages in farming, told journalists that the suspects hoodwinked him by calling him on the phone that they were spiritualists and based on their visions, he should reach out to them for prayer.
He claimed that in the process of interacting with the culprits through the phone while in Ogun State, he was defrauded of N2.5m which he was remitting to them through POS.
Asked how they got his phone number to establish contact with him in their illicit deal, Mr James said he does not know.
He said it was after the suspects were caught by Amotekun that he realised they were not spiritualists but those who employ fetish means to defraud people.
