Police Uncover Criminal Hideout in Ilorin

Front view of the abandoned buildings used by the suspects to perpetrate horror in Ilorin, Kwara State

The Kwara State Police Command yesterday uncovered another criminal hideout in Ilorin similar to Sokas in Ibadan, Oyo State, where many people were strangulated to death by criminals for ritual purposes in the state.

The hideout, according to THISDAY checks, which is an abandoned complex along the Lagos-Ilorin Expressway around the Ilorin International Airport area was said to have been used by suspected criminals for the murder, dismembering and sale of body parts.
THISDAY further gathered that the affected complex, with the inscription "For Sale" written all over it, is located near the NASFAT prayer ground, with a road separating the fenced building and the prayer ground.

Some of the items allegedly discovered in the six buildings of about 18 flats, said to be owned by an 85-year-old socialite, included decomposed human bodies, a decomposing headless body, decomposed human feet, snail shells, pieces of cloths suspected to be used in strangulating victims, bras, NYSC corps face caps, shoes, hijabs, caps, eye glasses, hand set covers and sandals, among other personal belongings.

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin yesterday following the discovery of the criminal hideout, the state police commissioner, Mr. Ambrose Aisabor, said the command’s special anti-crime squad, acting on "highly potent intelligence", coupled with the supply of information from members of the public, discovered the hideout at the weekend. Aisabor, who said no arrest had been made in the case, added that the aged socialite who allegedly owns the buildings and is suspected to be a native of Oro town in Irepodun Local Government Area of the state, was being interrogated.

In a related development, the state police commissioner also paraded one Ganiyu Lawal, suspected to be an armed robber. He said the suspect removed a Toyota Camry with Registration Number Lagos APP 645 AN, from where it was parked in Ikorodu, Lagos.
He said the case was still under investigation.

Also paraded were two students of Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin, suspected to be armed robbers, with one BlackBerry mobile phone, one Techno phone and N1,000 found on them.

The police commissioner said the suspects were arrested for robbing one Musa Azeez and others of various items including money at gunpoint within the college campus.

He said the suspects had confessed to the crime, adding that they would soon be arraigned in court.