ANGRY youths on Saturday night stormed the Oja-Odan Police Station in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State and set ablaze two persons detained at the facility for being in possession of fresh human parts.
The Punch reports that the incident occurred minutes after news of the arrest broke out in the community.
Some youths had arrested the suspects and handed them over to the police who promptly detained them.
Another set of angry youths in the community asked the police to release the suspects but the officers on duty refused.
The restive youths consequently forced themselves into the police cell, brought out the suspects – Idowu Afolabi and Johnson Adebiyi – and set them ablaze.
The police public relations officer in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the incident.
In a related development, the state police command said it had arrested a couple with fresh human parts, including hands, breasts, and others, which they kept in their room.
The police spokesperson in the state, Oyeyemi, said a leader and a pastor in the community where the couple lived alerted the police.
According to the statement, the pastor who lives opposite the couple’s room observed some foul smell and rushed to the community leader to complain.
Moshood Ogunwolu, the community leader, headed for the Kemta Divisional Headquarters to report the development.
The police then mobilised its intelligence team that stormed the house to search, leading to the discovery of the human parts.
The statement said the couple, Kehinde Oladimeji, 43, and his wife Adejumoke Raji, 35, were residents of 72, MKO Abiola Way, Leme, Abeokuta.
“The community leader reported that one Pastor Adisa Olarewaju, who is a co-tenant with the suspects, informed him of offensive odours coming out from the room of the suspects.
“Upon the complaint, the Divisional Police Officer, Kemta Division, Chief Superintendent of Police Adeniyi Adekunle, quickly led his detectives to the scene where the search was conducted.
“On searching the room, a plastic bowl containing fresh different human parts were discovered in the room, and the couple, promptly arrested,” the statement noted.
Meanwhile, the suspects confessed they were herbalists. They said they got the parts from one Michael, who they claimed resided in the Adatan area of Abeokuta.
Michael has since been at large, according to the police.
However, the police said they found a dismembered body in a swamp in the Leme area of Abeokuta about a week ago.
They could not confirm if the parts belonged to the deceased.
The State Commissioner of Police Lanre Bankole had ordered the transfer of the couple to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for a thorough investigation before they were set ablaze by the angry youths.
Nigeria has seen a spike in ritual killings in recent months.
Editor’s Note:
The headline was changed from ‘Angry youths attack police station, set couple caught with human parts ablaze’ to ‘Angry youths attack police station, set suspects caught with human parts ablaze’
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2022. Contact him via email @ [email protected].