By Oki Samson
The Nigeria Police, Lagos State Command says it has arrested a 10-man suspected criminal gang who are involved in ritual killing and selling of body parts, National Association of Online Security News Publishers, NAOSNP reports.
The suspects were nabbed in Badagry, Lagos state and parts of Ogun state including Ado-Odo Ota LGA. The gang comprises Yusuf Lawal, 80; Ademola Akinlosotu the leader of the gang, 33; Dada Toavi, 43; Hunsu Segun, 35; Sunday Padonu the ifa priest, 25; Amodu Wahab the Alfa, 52; Kamoli Aderibigbe, 44; Padonu Vijanaeyim, 75; Muyibat Adeshina the osun priestess, 49; and Ahisu Anago, 32.
Addressing newsmen about the arrest, the Lagos Police PRO, SP Benjamin Hundeyin established that the ’10-member ritual gang conspire to kill people and sell body parts to those who need them for money rituals. They were arrested in Badagry and and Ogun state. The main suspect, Ademola Akinlosotu used to exhume body until he graduated to killing and selling fresh human body parts.’
‘Some suspects are still at large. We have their names and location. We are perfecting the case. First thing on Monday morning, we will charge them to court.’
A member of the gang, Hunsu Segun noted that he used to be a mechanic but abandoned it for learning Ifa at Sunday Padonu’s centre. ‘On that fateful day, I met my oga, Sunday at a place and he said they wanted to kill a man. I rushed to my oga’s father to inform him that I am not party to it because it is not good but he told me he had warned his son who did not yield. I returned there to find that the man had been killed.’
‘About 4-5 days later, Ademola called me that he is trying to reach my oga but he is not picking. I called my oga and he told me that Ademola is coming to carry the legs of the person killed that I should go and give him. Ade carried the legs and left.’
Padonu Sunday, 25 who killed the victim, Saheed by name is an Ifa priest. ‘This is the first time I am killing. I didn’t know Ademola, it is Baale that introduced him to me that Ademola is an Alfa and we could work together.’
On how he killed the victim, he said: ‘I shot him at the arm with a gun I bought in Benin republic where I learned Ifa. When the victim was weak, we used knife to slaughter him. The two hands, heart, head and other parts of the body were removed.’
An Alfa, Amodu Wahab, who has his shop in Igando, Lagos is a dealer for the human body parts. ‘I met Ademola in 2021. Then Ademola will bring exhumed body parts and they will pay him N25000. Later he started bringing fresh body parts and they will give him N50000 for head, N25000 for hand, N25000 to N30000 for heart. Once the customers send the money to me, I usually transfer to Ademola. I don’t collect 1 naira from it. Those people who buy the body parts use it for money rituals. We use the flesh to do favour soap for people.’
The Police PRO, SP Benjamin Hundeyin advised Nigerians. ‘We advise people to be careful who they move with because from the story, one of the victims was not abducted or kidnapped, he was lured to where he was killed. People should be careful the kind of job they accept.
‘Let somebody know where you are going. Maybe if the victim had told someone about his movement, he would have been declared missing long time ago,’ Hundeyin advised.
Hundeyin said that report obtained by the police also revealed that the suspects usually bring in people to their hide-out, adding that those people never came out alive again.
He said exhibits of different human parts were recovered from the suspects.
He said the police were on the trail of other suspects.
The spokesperson of the Lagos Police Command said the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations were completed.
Meanwhile, Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the parade, the leader of the gang, Ademola Akinlosotu, said he got the human parts from dead bodies buried at the cemetery, before he graduated to killing – a job he had been doing for years.
Ademola said he moved to killing people to harvest parts because his clients requested for fresh parts and not dead body parts.
He said while he and some members of the gang would do the killings, he supplied the parts.
Ademola said he usually supplied the parts to a 52-year-old man, Ahmed Wahab, aka Alfa Bororo, who operated from Badagry in Lagos State and Ogun, to supply his clients.
According to him, a fresh human head is sold at N45,000 or N50,000 while a dry human head sells between N30,000 and N35,000; heart for N70,000 and hands for N50,000.
Ademola also said that he had only killed two persons, which included a friend he met through the social media, before he was arrested.
He said before they killed anyone, the herbalist would be contacted to consult the oracle if the killing would be successful or would bring trouble.
The suspect claimed that a traditional ruler in Badagry requested him to kill his son that was giving him problems.
He also said that the day they were to carry out the killing was the day his online friend visited him and he was killed.
The suspect said all he needed was the head, the heart and the hands.
