Police parade two suspects who sold heads of two slain policemen for N1,000

THE police in Oyo State have arrested more suspects in connection to the attack on policemen at the Iwo Road area of Ibadan, Oyo State, on October 22 and the alleged subsequent eating of their vital parts. 

Two suspects, who were alleged to have participated in the killing, had earlier been arrested. The state Commissioner of Police, Mr Nwachukwu Enwonwu, said the latest arrests were made by personnel of the Quick Intervention Unit of the command, who used the viral videos on the social media in which the policemen were burnt to trace the suspects. 

The main suspects, Abiodun (17) and Mubarak (24), confessed that on October 22, after two policemen had been burnt at Iwo Road, they found their severed heads by the roadside and took them to a herbalist, Ifakorede (44), who gave them N1,000 for them. 

Abiodun, a secondary school leaver, said Mubarak, a motor boy, had called him in the evening of October 22 to follow him to his girlfriend’s house at the Alabata area. 

He said as they were going, they got to the scene where the two policemen had been burnt and saw people severing their body parts. 

He said: “At the area, we found two already burnt heads that had been severed and Aliu said we could sell them to a herbalist. I initially resisted but he said there would be no problem, and that was how we took the heads in a polythene bag to the herbalist.” 

While also confessing, Mubarak said after taking the heads, they took them to a herbalist residing in his area and he explained to him that they were the heads of policemen burnt at the Iwo Road area earlier in the day. 

Mubarak said he knew Ifakorede as a herbalist and that he was always buying strange items. He said he had sold local eggs to him in the past and that he felt he would also be interested in the heads. 

“After he collected the heads from us, he gave us N1,000,” Mubarak said. 

Ifakorede, on his part, confessed to have collected the heads from the boys, adding that he wanted to use them for ritual purposes. 

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The police also arrested additional eight suspects who carried out the attack on Iseyin Police Station, as well as those who killed and burnt four policemen at the Ojoo division. 

The suspects also confessed to have carted away AK-47 rifles from the armoury of the station, which they claimed they handed over to their criminal kingpin, Dada, alias Action. 

The suspects led the joint security team to the hideout of the said Dada at the Olopometa area. CP Enwonwu said: “On getting to his hideout, the hoodlum, on sighting the police, opened fire on them. He was later arrested with bullet wounds on his right leg. 

“One AK-47 rifle with breech number 235953 and eight live ammunition was recovered from him. But he gave up the ghost while being rushed to the hospital for medical treatment.” 

The commissioner said the police in the state would continue to work to ensure that criminals who perpetrated the attacks on police personnel in the state during the EndSARS protest were brought to book. 

He urged members of the public to continue to give the police relevant information that would aid the recovery of police weapons that are currently in wrong hands.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE