Armed robberies in Oyo State fell from 182 in 2019 to 123 cases last year, a drop of 32.24 per cent, according to a police report
The report indicated that the state appeared to be on course to record a 40 to 50 per cent decline in the violent crime.
It attributed the decline in armed robbery to Governor Seyi Makinde’s efforts to secure the state.
The report identified banditry, mostly kidnapping by invading herders, as the new form of criminality in the state.
It said 47 herders suspected of attempting a reprisal in Oke-Ogun/Ibarapa, were last week arrested by operatives of the state security outfit, ‘Operation Burst’.
The document, titled ‘Armed robbery statistics from 2019 to 2020,’ said May recorded the lowest incidents of armed robbery last year with only two cases, followed by June with three.
The corresponding lowest statistics on record for 2019 were January and October with 10 and 12 cases.
February, with 18 cases, and January with 16, were the highest on record for the year, while July with 24 and March with 20 were the corresponding highest for 2019.
The month-by month armed robbery incident numbers for 2019 and 2020 are as follows:
2019: January 10, February 15, March 20, April 13, May 15, June 19, July 24, August 13, September 10, October 12, November 18 and December 13, making a total of 182