A 58-year-old native doctor, Oluwole Olapade, and a cemetery attendant, Adesina Adeniyi, were on Tuesday paraded for having in their possession two human skulls and liver.
Parading the suspects before journalists at the Osun State Police Command headquarters in Osogbo, the state Commissioner of Police, Johnson Kokumo, said the suspects had successfully harvested a human skull, which they used for money ritual.
The police boss said because the first attempt failed to yield money, one of the suspects went to another burial ground and exhumed two human skulls and cut off some body parts, which they intended to use for another money ritual.
Kokumo said luck, however ran out on Adeniyi, who was contracted for the job, when policemen on stop-and-search duty intercepted a commercial bus conveying him on the Iwo/Ibadan Road and discovered decomposing human skulls and liver in his possession.
Forty-two-year-old Adeniyi of the Kajola area of Iwo, said he was an attendant at the Muslim Cemetery and admitted to stealing human parts from burial grounds, which he intended to sell to Olapade for N20,000.
The CP said Olapade was arrested in the Yemetu area of Ibadan, Oyo State.
Responding to questions, Olapade admitted to contracting Adeniyi to look for human skulls for him.
“At the first attempt, the head I got didn’t bring money. So, I contracted Adeniyi to get another head for me, which he did. Unfortunately, he was caught by the police,” he stated.
Parading other suspects arrested by the personnel of the command, Kokumo said five men were apprehended for claiming to be military personnel and running an illegal training camp.
According to him, one of the suspects, Akinsiku Sunkanmi, who claimed to be a Nigerian Merchant Navy personnel and dressed in military uniform, was apprehended by two personnel of the Naval Base, Ofa, at the Old Garage area of Osogbo, who later handed him over to the police.
Also paraded with Akinsiku were Aniedu Essiet, Ijeoma Nwabueze, Raheem Quadric and Gabriel Jacob, from whom exhibits like camouflage head tie, a pair of military uniform, a digger and nine cutlasses, were recovered.
The suspects told journalists that they were taken to a camp in Ifon, Osun State for training by a man, who is currently at large.
They claimed to have paid the said man between N100,000 and N200,000 for registration and training as Blue Merchant Navy operatives.
Also paraded were two robbery suspects, who were arrested at a robbery scene in Osu after a shootout with the police.
The suspects, Chinedu Francis and Emmanuel Okafor, reportedly surrendered themselves to the police after a hot chase.
Kokumo added that all the suspects would be arraigned before a court very soon.
