The police in Lagos State have arrested three persons, including a herbalist, in connection with a suspected ritual killers’ camp discovered in the Ita Oluwo area of Ikorodu.
The Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, who paraded the suspects before newsmen on Friday, identified them as Ishola Kazeem, Isreal Okon and John Nwoke Charles. The commissioner said the camp was owned by a team of individuals who operated an illegal security outfit where people were detained and tortured.
Odumosu also told newsmen that a total number of 66 persons were arrested for conspiracy and armed robbery, four persons for murder, two persons for rape, four kidnappers, five persons for stealing, 26 persons for illegal possession of firearms, 11 persons for possession of human parts, two persons for internet fraud and 128 persons arrested for belonging to illegal security outfits in the state.
He said: “Based on credible intelligence gathered, detectives attached to the Sagamu Road Police Division, Ikorodu, bust the camp of an illegal security outfit, ‘Citizens for Peace and First Aid Mission of Nigeria’, where innocent citizens arrested were detained and tortured.
“Investigations revealed that the illegal outfit was recruiting and training young Nigerians who were kitted with uniform and accoutrements similar to those of government security agencies in Nigeria.
“While clamping down on the camp of the outfit at Sagamu Road, Ikorodu, a shallow grave was discovered where human skeletons, including the skull of a victim who was allegedly arrested and tortured to death, were found.
“During investigations, some suspects, including a native doctor who is a member of the gang allegedly using the parts of their victims for ritual purposes, were arrested.”
All three suspects confessed that the decomposed body of a person was exhumed from the camp by the police.
They, however, said that the victim was killed during a mob attack after he was accused of attempting to rob a hotel.
Okon said: “I was deployed to a hotel at Itaruwo on Shagamu Road to work as a guard. But I discovered later that they were involved in rituals.
“I witnessed the death of only one person. The person was a robber who went to rob at the hotel where I was working. The owner of the hotel told our commander to take the robber to the police station but he took him to our base where the man died.
“My commander told me to dig a grave where the robber was buried. Thereafter, he detained me at the base because he didn’t want me to expose him.
“One week later, our commander brought out the corpse and cut off its head. He took it to an herbalist.”