The police command in Oyo State has arrested two suspects for the alleged exhumation of corpses and the sale of their body parts to ritualists.
The command’s Public Relations Officer, Adewale Osifeso, shared this information in a statement to journalists on Friday in Ibadan.
He explained that the suspects were apprehended following a tip-off received by detectives at the Iyaganku Divisional Police Headquarters in Ibadan.
Acting on the information, detectives were promptly dispatched to search the residence of one of the suspects, situated in the Muslim area of Ibadan.
During the search, they discovered a female human torso and other dismembered remains, including severed limbs and dried bones, all stored in bags and paint buckets. In his confession, the suspect revealed that he had exhumed the corpse from a cemetery in Awa-Ijebu in the Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State and admitted to selling the body parts to ritualists.
The suspect then guided detectives to the cemetery, where his claims were confirmed. Further confessions led to the arrest of a second suspect, a septuagenarian, who had purchased some of the human parts from him.
He also admitted to his involvement in the illicit trade of human body parts. The case has been forwarded to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation Department for a thorough investigation, with efforts intensified to identify and apprehend all individuals involved.
Additionally, the state Commissioner of Police, Johnson Ademola, has alerted cemetery managers to increase vigilance in response to recent occurrences of ritualists exhuming corpses.
Mr Ademola further advised transporters to carefully inspect their passengers’ bags and belongings to avoid unwittingly facilitating illicit activities.
