Operatives of the Oyo State Police Command have arrested five suspects for the murder of a retired permanent secretary in the state civil service, Mrs Olaitan Gbenle.
Thirty other suspects were arrested for various crimes.
The state Commissioner of Police, Adebola Hamzat, announced the arrests during a press briefing at the command headquarters in Eleyele, Ibadan.
According to a message posted on the command’s X account on Wednesday, Gbenle’s suspected killers allegedly strangled her to death after robbing her of valuable possessions.
According to police reports, the suspects voluntarily confessed to the crime.
The statement quoted the leader of the gang as saying that Gbenle was murdered because she recognised him during the robbery.
He was said to have admitted his involvement in multiple robbery operations.
He reportedly said in his confession statement that, “This is my second time taking part in robbery operation. I lived in the same neighbourhood as the deceased in Apata area of Ibadan.
“We strangled her to death, knowing fully well that she recognised me during the operation as one of her neighbours. The fear of possible arrest by the security operatives made us take the decision.
“We sold the two vehicles out, (Toyota Camry and Toyota Corolla) for N4m out of which we were paid only N2m before the police swooped on us.
“My own share of the money was N200,000.”
The command also arrested suspected ritualists in the Saki area of the state with a fresh human head cut off from a freshly exhumed corpse and a pot containing concoctions used for ritual purposes.
Among the items recovered from the suspects are 18 cars, a DAF trailer, 2,137 cartons of Maggi valued at N18 million, an electricity generating set, four live cartridges, 64 mobile phones, a master key, and a cash sum of N820,000.
