Akintunde Olaniyi, an ex-convict, was arrested by the Osun State Police Command for allegedly breaking into 9 shops and stealing electrical materials, mobile phones, and other items worth over N34 million.
According to a statement obtained in Osogbo on Sunday by the Command’s spokesperson, Yemisi Opalola, the suspect had broken into about 9 shops in Ede metropolis before being apprehended.
Opalola stated that Olaniyi was tried and convicted for a year in jail in 2018, which he witnessed in the Ile-Ife correctional facility.
According to her, the suspect was arrested after an investigation into a complaint lodged at A’ Divisional Police Headquarter, Ede, by a shop owner in the town, who alleged that since March, 2022, his shops had been reportedly broken with items worth millions of naira stolen.
She said, “The police from Anti-vice intelligence squad immediately set investigation mechanism rolling and the suspect who claimed to be a student in one of the higher institutions in the state was arrested and one of the iPhones being a property of one of the complainants was recovered from him.
“The suspect one Akintunde Olaniyi Joy an ex-convict was convicted some times in the year 2018, imprisoned at Ile-Ife correctional centre and later released having served his one-year jail term and continues with his nefarious activities.
“During interrogation, he confessed to the alleged crime(s) and stated that sometime in March 2022, he and others at large broke into the shop of the complainant located at no. 4, Polytechnic road, Ede at midnight and carted away different types of phones valued about three million, eight hundred thousand naira only.
“On 27th April 2022 at about 2 am the same suspect and gangs robbed the same complainant shop where they tied the night guard and went away with phones worth twenty-nine million naira only. In the same modus operandi, the suspect and his accomplices at large went to the same shop on 29th May 2022 and made away with different types of phones valued at about one million, two hundred thousand naira only.”
Opalola said the suspect would be charged to court as soon as the investigation was concluded, adding that victims had been coming around to identify their property from those recovered from Olaniyi.