Horror in Ibadan: Police bust syndicate selling human body parts for rituals

Two suspects have been taken into custody by the Oyo State Police Command on charges of exhuming bodies and selling body parts to ritualists, revealing a horrifying human remains trade.

In a statement released on Friday in Ibadan, the Command's Public Relations Officer, Adewale Osifeso, announced the arrest and said the operation was conducted after detectives at the Iyaganku Divisional Police Headquarters got a critical tip.

A female human body and additional dismembered human parts, including severed limbs and dry bones, were found during the search and were kept in sacks and a paint bucket, according to Osifeso.

In his confession, one of the suspects said that he had dug up a body from a cemetery in Awa-Ijebu, Ogun State's Ijebu North Local Government Area, and sold the bones to ritualists.

Detectives found a second suspect, a septuagenarian, who was suspected of buying human body parts after he confessed.

Osifeso went on to say, "He also acknowledged his involvement in the illegal trade in human body parts."

As police step up their efforts to capture additional suspects connected to the unsettling operation, the case has been moved to the State Criminal inquiry Department's Homicide Section for additional inquiry.

In the meantime, in response to an increase in the number of body exhumation cases, Oyo State Commissioner of Police Johnson Ademola has strongly warned cemetery management to increase security.

In order to avoid unintentionally supporting such illegal activity, Ademola further advised transporters to be extra watchful and thoroughly inspect clients' bags. (NAN)