The Police command in Ondo State, says it has arrested one Owolabi Abiodun, aged 27 and one Benedict Ifeanyi, aged 23 for allegedly impersonating the military in the state.
SP Odunlami Funmilayo, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) made this known in a statement made available to newsmen on Tuesday in Akure.
Odunlami, who explained that the arrest was part of the command achievements in the month of April, said 12 other suspects were arrested for various offences across the state.
“On April 11, 2022 at about 2.00p.m, information was received by policemen attached to Oda Division, that a young man who claimed to be a student of School of Health Technology, Akure, came alongside his friends, threatened and harassed his co-tenants and the landlord.
“That his landlord will pay with his life if he evicts him from the house.
“Upon receipt of the information, policemen were sent to the house to invite him and his friends, from where Investigations revealed that the suspect had been parading himself to be a Soldier in his area,” she said.
According to the PPRO, Abiodun, however, confessed that he was never a soldier, but liked the uniform and bought it from an open market.
She said that Abiodun was helping the police with other information that could help in arresting his cohorts and those involved in the illegal buying and selling of military uniform.
Odunlami said that Ifeanyi had on March 8, paraded himself as a soldier to one Miss Joy Tony with a promise to assist her arrest one Owolabi Olawumi, who defrauded her of N2million under the pretense of selling five plots of land to her.
According to the PPRO, after arresting Olawumi, the suspect (Ifeanyi) took him to an unknown destination and obtained the sum of N300,000 from him without the knowledge of the complainant (Joy).
“Ifeanyi lied to Joy that he had taken the man to Army Barracks where he will be made to pay the money he obtained from her.
“Few weeks later when Joy didn’t hear about her money and the whereabout of the self acclaimed soldier, she went to Army Barracks to report him and it was confirmed that he was never a military personnel,” she said.
Odunlami said that during interrogation, Ifeanyi confessed that he was never a soldier, saying the two suspects would soon be arraigned.