BY ROTIMI DUROJAIYE
Seven members of an alleged serial ritual killer syndicate have been apprehended in different parts of Abeokuta metropolis by men of Ogun state police command.
According to a statement on Wednesday by the command’s spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, the suspects; Lekan Oladipupo, 38, of Sotan village, Sulaiman Aremu, 30, of Imala Elega Abeokuta, Ifayemi Madru, 24, of Sotan village, Shittu Saheed, 38, of Alarugbo village, Samod Sulaiman, 35, of Sotan village, Akanji Moruf, 23, of Alabata village and Tajudeen Adekunle, 36, of Sapon Abeokuta, were arrested following a report lodged at Bode Olude divisional headquarters by one Abraham Okosun.
Okosun had reported that he visited his brother, Sunday Okosun, at Agbara village, via Mawuko Abeokuta, only to discover that he has been brutally murdered by unknown person(s) and his remains dismembered.
Upon the report, the Divisional Police Officer, Bode Olude Division, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Durojaye Rotimi, who visited the scene with his crack detectives thereafter embarked on an intelligence-based investigation to unravel those behind the dastardly act.
Acting on credible information, the detectives traced and apprehended Lekan Oladipupo, who on interrogation confessed to have been the actual person who shot and killed the deceased with his dane gun.
His confession led to the arrest of the other six suspects.
On interrogation, each of the suspects narrated his respective roles in the gruesome murder of the deceased and others who have been killed in similar circumstances.
Oladipupo informed the police that his role was to look for their victim, usually in the bush around Mawuko area and shoot such unfortunate persons to death.
He will then contact Sulaiman Aremu, who will butcher the corpse of the victim and remove the vital parts to be distributed to their standby customers.
The customers are, Ifayemi Badru, who buys the heart, hands and other parts of the body. Shittu Saheed buys the head; Akanji Moruf buys the heart of their victims while Tajudeen Adekunle also buys the head.
The suspects confessed to have killed not less than four persons in similar circumstances and that their body parts were used for money making rituals.
They also informed the police that they have code names for each human part whenever they want to request it from their butcher man.
For example, they normally refer to the human head as a ball, the heart as a transformer, while the hands are code-named as fans.
The gun and cutlass they used for the dastardly act have been recovered.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, who described the incident as the height of inhumanity to man, has ordered that the suspects be transferred to the homicide section of the state criminal investigation and intelligence department, for discreet investigation with the view to charge them to court as soon as possible.
