Three persons, who allegedly conspired and extorted money from traders, have been remanded at the Federal Prison, Oke-Kura, Ilorin.

The accused, Kehinde Isiaka, 30; Abdulazeez Yusuf, 32 and Abdulrahman Adebayo, 35 all of Ilorin, Kwara State, were ordered to be remanded by an Ilorin Magistrate Court before which they were arraigned on a three-count charge of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery and extortion.

The offences contradicted Sections 6(b), 1(2) of the Robbery and Firearms and 292 of Penal Code Law.

The accused were arrested following a report on July 10 at the office of Director of State Security, Ilorin, by Mr. Michael Uzo and Magnus Igwu both traders at Station Area, Ilorin, that the accused and others at large came to their shops and demanded money from them for "land title" otherwise known as "Omo-Onile".

Meanwhile, when the traders refused to give them money, they allegedly brought out guns and threatened to kill the victims if they failed to comply. Following their threat, the victim allegedly offered them the money for the day's sales, and reported the matter to the State Security Service (SSS). The long arm of the law caught up with the accused when on August 9 the traders sighted the accused in the market area and immediately called the SSS operatives. However, when the SSS operatives arrived, Adebayo (third accused) attempted to disarm the operatives in order to facilitate their escape and he was shot on the leg.

First Information Report (FIR), investigation revealed that the accused and others at large regularly tormented the traders and extort them at gunpoint. The prosecutor, Barrister J.A. Mumini, the Director of Public Prosecution, Ministry of Justice, Ilorin, objected the bail of the accused and urged the court to remand them in prison custody pending the outcome of investigation. Magistrate I.J. Bamigboye acceded to the submission of the prosecutor and ordered that the accused be remanded at the Federal Prison, Oke-Kura, Ilorin and adjourned the case till September 10 for further mention.