The Edo State Police Command has begun the search for suspected ritual killers in the Upper Siluko axis of Egor Local Government Area.
In January, commercial motocycle operators protested the killing of their colleagues inside a forest in a boundary between Ogheghe and Egbaen villages.
The protest followed the alleged discovery of a body inside the bush and the “miraculous” escape of a motorcycle operator from his killers.
It was gathered that the recent search for the suspected ritual killers followed an audio message that has gone viral, showing how the wife of a woman’s nephew escaped from ritual killers.
The woman, who did not state her name, accused policemen at the Evbuotubu Police Station of not showing seriousness in pursuing the killers.
She said the victim boarded a bus from Ekenwan Barracks to Ring Road and was touched with a white handkerchief by two supposed passengers who allegedly made her to become unconscious. The voice said the woman was rescued at the Upper Siluko axis after missing for five days.
She said the victim said the ritual killers took two persons inside the bus to a bush and tied them down after shaving the hair on their heads.
“My brother’s wife said the people killed two women in her presence by cutting their necks. She said they were naked. She told us that she was released naked from the camp, after their supposed leader asked that she should be released.
“Some people she met on the way thought she was a mad woman because she was naked. It was an old woman she met at a farm that gave her clothes and took her to where she made calls to her husband’s sister. The husband reported to the police and they have gone to see the woman at the hospital. The Investigating Police Officer (IPO) said the woman should come to give a statement after she has recovered.”
Police Commissioner Babatunde Kokumo could not be reached for comments but a top police source said a team had been set up to track down the suspected ritual killers.
The source said: “We are aware of the audio message. Our team is working on it to verify the claims. We will let the world know about our findings.”