The Ondo State Police Command has arrested a prime suspect along with 14 alleged distributors in connection with the production and sale of toxic alcoholic concoctions that claimed the lives of at least 29 residents in Odigbo Local Government Area.
The suspected producer was taken into custody following an intelligence-driven operation by state detectives investigating a cluster of sudden fatalities across multiple communities, including Araromi-Obu, Orita Odigbo, and Newtown. Authorities disclosed that chemical substances suspected to be industrial methanol were recovered from the brewing site and sent for forensic examination.
The command's spokesperson, DSP Abayomi Jimoh, confirmed the enforcement operation in an official statement, noting that security personnel mobilised swiftly across the affected districts to contain the threat and halt further distributions.
"The Ondo State Police Command has contained the situation and arrested the prime suspect alongside other sellers and distributors of the poisonous concoction," Jimoh said, noting that all detainees are currently facing interrogation under the relevant provisions of the Liquor Act.
State health officials reported that approximately 60 individuals suffered severe poisoning during the incident, with patients exhibiting rapid clinical deterioration characterised by acute blindness, debilitating headaches, respiratory distress, and loss of consciousness shortly after ingestion.
The State Commissioner of Police has ordered an immediate statewide enforcement blitz against unregistered, unlabelled home-brewed drinks and adulterated herbal mixtures, while pathologists continue post-mortem toxicological tests to establish the formal cause of death for the deceased.
