The Oyo State Police Command has taken into custody eight individuals believed to be serial ritual killers and another 15 individuals in connection with allegations of murder, robbery, and rape.
During a press briefing at the command’s headquarters in Ibadan on Friday, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Ayodele Sonubi, disclosed the arrests, stating that the tip-off about one of the suspected serial ritual killers came on August 10 following a report by a citizen named Ayede.
Concerned members of the community had alerted the police after noticing a foul smell emanating from a property linked to the 40-year-old suspect, who did not reside at the location but was seen visiting at unusual times.
Upon inspection, law enforcement officers from Moniya Divisional Police Headquarters discovered a dry well on the premises of the house where mutilated human remains, resembling bodies, were found.
Subsequently, three unidentified bodies were recovered from the well and transferred to the State Hospital morgue for further examination and preservation, as stated by Sonubi.
The suspect was apprehended, and he not only admitted to the crime but also provided the names of accomplices involved in the gruesome acts of killing individuals for ritualistic purposes, some of whom were currently evading law enforcement.
Further elaborating on the case, the Commissioner mentioned an incident where the suspect and his accomplices, in April, enticed a 28-year-old man to the same location in Moniya, where they decapitated and dismembered him, selling his body parts to two other suspects.
Sonubi also revealed that in another incident on August 7, the suspect and his associates fatally stabbed a 17-year-old boy, severed his head and limbs, and sold them to a female suspect for N70,000.