FEMI OYEWESO, ABEOKUTA
Men of the Ogun state police command have arrested four members of a fraud syndicate, who defrauded a 26-years-old lady, Imoleayo Ashade of the sum of over N1. 3 million in Ijebu – Ode area after hypnotising her.
Police also intercepted a box containing fake international currencies which the suspects were using to deceive unsuspecting victims in their currency washing technology.
The four suspects were arrested on Tuesday the 26th of January, 2021 when the police, in a joint operation with members of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) and the local Vigilance Group, stormed a forest at Ijagun area in the neighbourhood of Ijebu – Ode township where the shrine of the fraudsters was located.
The suspects: Salau Taiwo, Ifakunle Adeyemi, Tajudeen Jimoh and Adebayo Akeem were also said to be engaging in international currencies washing which included Pound Sterlings, US Dollars and European’s Euro in addition to swindling their victims.
The command’s Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun, who conducted journalists round the scene of the crime yesterday when he made an on-the-spot assessment of the shrine, said that the suspects were arrested after their victim, Ashade had lodged a complaint at the Awa – Ijebu division of the police.
The CP explained that the victim was sometimes in December, year 2020, accosted by two members of the syndicate, who “appealed to her for assistance because they were stranded and had nowhere to stay for the night”.
Ajogun further explained that after successfully hypnotising and establishing friendship with the lady, the suspects later lured her into their hideout where they made her to swear to an oath of secrecy before duping her to the sum of N1, 310, 000: 00.
Speaking with journalists at the shrine, Ashade, a Business Administration graduate and awaiting NYSC’s mobilization from the Adeniran Ogunsanya Polytechnic, Ijebu – Igbo, headquarters of Ijebu North Local Government, said the suspects lured her to believing that they could assist her with charms to boost her petty trading.
While assuring that the suspects would be charged to court after investigation had been concluded, Ogun CP however, reiterated that the state would not be a conducive place to carry out any form of criminal enterprise under whatever guise.
Items recovered from the shrine included a box containing various denominations of fake foreign currencies, assorted charms and the sum of N1, 310, 000: 00 which they allegedly collected from the victim fraudulently, while immoveable effigies were also spotted at various locations within the shrine
