Oyo State Police Command, on Saturday, arrested five suspects for setting ablaze its patrol van and vandalising Elete Outstation on the new Oyo-Ogbomoso Expressway in the Atiba Local Government Area of the state.
A statement by the state Police Public Relations Officer, Adewale Osifeso, in Ibadan, the state capital, noted that the suspects, who claimed to be held up in traffic gridlock on the expressway, vented their anger on the police for their perceived inability to restore normalcy on the road.
The statement read in part, “The police preliminary investigation reveals that the suspected hoodlums, after realising they had been held up in the gridlock for a while, charged in their numbers towards the nearby Elete Out-Station over the perceived failure of the police to rid the traffic and, thereby, set ablaze the Out-Station’s recently refurbished patrol Van and vandalised some parts of the building.
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“But they were resisted from breaking into the out-station by overwhelming support garnered from men on confidence-building patrols from nearby police divisions, including the Area Command.
“Consequent to the immediate response and resistance from the men of the comman, no weapon was carted away, nor any life lost.
“Five male suspects were arrested alongside two unregistered DAF and Volvo trucks taken as exhibits, while the case has been transferred to the state Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku to unravel other underlying sinister motives besides the suspect’s acclaimed “triggering gridlock issue.”