Police Bust Teenagers Inside Forest During Cult Initiation
CYRIACUS IZUEKWE
Police operatives from the Lagos State Command busted some teenagers suspected to be cult members inside a forest where they had gone for initiation.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the incident happened on 23rd June, 2018, at the Epe area of Lagos where they had gone to be initiated into Aiye Confraternity.
They were said to have been recruited from different states of the federation and brought to the place for proper initiation before the police got the information and busted the place around 2am that day.
About 25 of them were arrested while several other suspects scattered in the forest and it was not certain what happened to some of them because the place was a thick forest.
Some of the suspects arrested were mainly teenagers from other locations in the state and they included, Jude Olamide, 15, Monday Arukwe, 15, Emmanuel Osho, 17, Ajayi Olamide, 17, Tawede Moyowa, 17, Ajagbe Samuel, 17 and Dele Femi, 18.
Others were Tosin Ogunbabe, 17, Ismail Shuaib,17, Habeeb Olaiya, 19 and many others.
The police also recovered locally made pistol, expended cartridges and different types of phones as exhibits and kept them at the State Command.
This was confirmed by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Imohimi Edgal, at the State Command, Lagos. The boss police expressed concern over the activities of the young boys who were being initiated into cults and blamed the parents for lack of care for their children.
He said that the suspects arrested at Epe came from their various states to Lagos and left their homes for days without their parents asking to know about their movement. He reiterated that he will not allow the activities of cult groups in the state and any person caught must be arrested and prosecuted.
CP Edgal said that the police busted the suspects following credible intelligence available to the Command about the suspects at Epe. Hence, he mobilized the officers and they went there when they were conducting the initiation rites for the new members in the forest and busted them.
He said that the suspects will be charged to court including the teenagers for prosecution.
