police arrest suspected bandit supplier in Ilorin hours after att∆ck scar£ triggers pan!c

police arrest suspected bandit supplier in Ilorin hours after attack scare triggers panic

The Kwara State Police Command has arrested a suspected member of a bandit logistics network in Ilorin, recovering items believed to be part of a supply chain servicing criminal groups operating in forests and remote locations across the state.

The arrest came just hours after panic swept through Ilorin following rumours of an impending bandit attack, which prompted hundreds of parents and guardians to rush to schools to pick up their children.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi, said operatives of the Violent Crime Response Unit (VCRU) made the arrest following credible intelligence and sustained covert surveillance.

According to the police, the suspect is believed to play a strategic role in a broader network responsible for supplying food items and other forms of support to bandits and allied criminal elements.

Items recovered from the suspect included a large quantity of assorted cigarette brands and other rations suspected to be destined for criminal groups operating within forested enclaves.

The police said preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect’s activities were closely linked to the movement and supply of materials used to sustain criminal operations.

photographs from the suspect’s mobile phone allegedly showing him dressed in military camouflage and seated on a Bajaj motorcycle, a development the police said has strengthened intelligence linking him to criminal networks.

The Command noted that efforts were ongoing to identify and arrest other members of the network.

Commissioner of Police, Adekimi Ojo, reassured residents that security agencies were intensifying efforts to dismantle not only armed criminal groups but also the logistics structures, informants, collaborators and suppliers that enable their operations.

He said ongoing security operations across the state were increasingly focused on disrupting support networks that provide resources, mobility and intelligence to bandits and other criminal elements.

The breakthrough comes amid heightened tension in Ilorin after unverified reports of a possible bandit invasion spread across the city on Thursday.

The rumours triggered widespread anxiety, particularly around public and private schools, as worried parents hurried to evacuate their children.

Security personnel, including forest guards, were subsequently deployed to strategic locations across the state capital to reassure residents and prevent any security breach.

#GranHermanoGeneraciónDorada #bandits #ilorin #kwara rumors of bandits attack pic.twitter.com/g6uf5aIefN

— Sheidu stephen (@stevesheid) June 18, 2026

Scenes of panic were reported at several schools, including ECWA Secondary School, United Secondary School, Sheikh Abdulsalam School and Methodist Secondary School in the Taiwo-Isale area, where parents gathered in large numbers to pick up their children.

Similar scenes were also witnessed in the Lanjorin area, with parents rushing to schools such as Cherubim and Seraphim Secondary School, His Grace School, St. Barnabas School and Mercy T Secondary School.

The police have urged residents to remain calm and continue to cooperate with security agencies by providing credible information that could assist ongoing operations against criminal elements in the state.

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