Oyo State Police Command has arrested 78 members of the dissolved Park Management System (PMS) over an alleged plan to disrupt peace in the state.
The state Commissioner of Police, Adebowale Williams disclosed this to journalists while parading the suspects at the command’s headquarters in Eleyele, Ibadan, on Tuesday.
He said the chairman of the PMS disciplinary committee, Mukaila Lamidi popularity known as Auxillary, escaped arrest.
Those arrested by the police comprised 49 men and 29 women.
Governor Seyi Makinde had on Monday dissolved the PMS disciplinary committee operated by members of the banned National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the state.
At the briefing, the CP said the suspects had perfected plans to unleash mayhem in the early hours of Tuesday in major parts of the state and were subsequently arrested in possession of sophisticated firearms.
He revealed that several arms and ammunition, charms, and N3.4 million cash were recovered from Auxiliary’s hotel.
At least 84 AK-47 rifles, 19 pump actions; 724 live cartridges, 25 cutlasses, and seven cut-to-size guns, among others, were recovered from other suspects.
Williams said: “The proactive nature of the command while acting on intelligence-driven surveillance, led to the arrest of the suspects.
The operatives raided Lamidi’s location at Diamond Hotel, Alakia-Isebo, and arrested 78 suspected hoodlums.
“In addition, sophisticated firearms were recovered inside the hotel rooms and in the trunk compartment of the parked vehicles within the hotel.
“The PMS chieftain, Lamidi, however, escaped with some of his boys during a gun duel with the police.
“But a member of the group was neutralised during the shootout.”