The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ritualists’ den

  • Teenager rescued from suspected ritualists’ den

    A 17-year-old girl identified as Rachel was yesterday rescued from suspected ritualists’ den at Ijanikin, Lagos, where she was taken to by three men.

    The girl, a make-up apprentice, was said to have been hypnotised and abducted on Wednesday morning while on an errand along Ibasa Road, Alasia, Ijanikin, a Lagos suburb.

    Her abductors were said to have taken her to a secluded place at Dan Ajayi Street, Ijanikin, where they allegedly perfected plans to kill her, but she miraculously regained consciousness and screamed “the blood of Jesus.”

    Her scream was said to have attracted neighbours, who invaded the house, but before they got there, the suspected ritualists had escaped through the bush.

    A resident, Chika Ugochukwu, said the suspected ritualists packed to the area last year, adding that people hardly bothered about their activities since their home was isolated from others.

    Another neighbour, Tochukwu, said the suspects allegedly touched the girl with a charm, which made her to follow them unconsciously.

    “The suspects were already preparing the girl to be used for rituals when some neighbours heard her scream. The shrine where they took her to is behind an isolated house at Dan Ajayi Street. The suspects fled when they knew that the game was up,” he said.

     

  • Protest at ritualist’s den in Edo

    Commercial motorcyclists in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State, and youths have protested the presence of a ritualist den at a forest in a boundary between Ogheghe and Egbaen villages.

    Both villages are located on the Benin-Iguobazuwa road.

    The Okada riders set up a barricade after the body of one of their colleagues was found dead in the bush.

    They were said to have identified a suspect, who hired the dead colleague two days earlier.

    When the suspect requested another Okada rider, The Nation learnt that the riders followed the suspect and cornered him when he was about entering the bush.

    A source said together with some youths, the riders beat up the suspect.

    He was said to have taken them to where he dumped the body and named other accomplices, including a birth attendant.

    Policemen prevented the mob from lynching the suspect.

    Some witnesses said the bush was filled with dead bodies and clothing.

    One of them, Felix Okhuogha, said he saw decomposed bodies and skeletons when he joined a search party into the bush.

    His words: “I was in my store one day when somebody came to tell me that he saw a man tied down in the bush. We went there and saw the man who I later discovered to be a brother to my landlord.

    “I asked him what happened, he said a man tied him at gun point and took his motorcycle away. I brought him to the road and allowed him to explain to people.

    “I saw dead bodies inside the bush. It was terrible. The whole place was smelling. The police should do something about it.”

    A motorcyclist, who pleaded anonymity, said they decided to comb the bush following several incidents of missing persons.

    “Our people are missing everyday. On Saturday, we entered the bush and found the body of a man that was missing four days ago. The man we caught has killed many.’’

    Commissioner of Police Babatunde Kokumo said the suspect was arrested in connection to murder and not ritual killing.

    Kokumo said that the suspect would have been lynched, if the police had not acted swiftly.

    He said there was nothing like ritual killing.

    “There was nothing like mass killing in Egor. No bodies have been seen. The police arrested a suspect for murder and we are doing further investigation,” he said.

  • Ritualists’ den: DPO, two officers injured as police arrest 30

    Ritualists’ den: DPO, two officers injured as police arrest 30

    A mob at the scene of ritualists’ underground den found in Obadeyi /Ijaiye axis of the Lagos-Abeokuta highway yesterday injured the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Ojokoro Police Station, Mr Tolani Ogunjobi, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), while he was trying to disperse the unruly crowd.

    About 30 of them were arrested by the police.

    Two other policemen were injured.

    It was gathered that the DPO was trying to disperse the crowd from the scene to allow police easy access to the tunnel.

    Tthe crowd turned their anger on the DPO after he arrested an unruly man among the onlookers that besieged the canal where suspected ritualists were arrested and set ablaze on Tuesday.

    It took the intervention of operatives to rescue DPO from the mob who persistently pelted him with stones injuring him on his hands and brow.

    The distraught DPO was later ferried back to his station in a police van.

    Some of the onlookers who spoke with The Nation blamed the police for handling the situation inappropriately.

    ’’The Police should have by now fish out those still hiding in the tunnel used by the ritualists as den. Would it take them one week or one month to unravel those behind this abominable act in a state like Lagos,’’ one of them who identified himself as Akinyele asked.

    The onlookers were however successfully dispersed at about 5:25p.m through the combined efforts of operatives of the Lagos State Task Force on Environment and policemen on horseback.

    Meanwhile, the Police sniffer dogs have been deployed to the underground canal to assist in the search for more suspects.

    Some suspects have also been arrested from two buildings adjoining the underground canal near Ajala Close.

     It was gathered that those arrested are family members of the owner of the buildings and some miscreants who had converted one the buildings into their haven.

    Contacted, Police spokesman, Mr Olarinde Famous-Cole, said the Command was still investigating the incident, adding that police experts have been deployed to the scene to carry out special investigations that could lead to the unravelling of those behind the ritualists den.

    He said: ‘’ Two officers and the DPO of Ojokoro were injured by the unruly crowd and we have arrested about 30 of them to serve as a deterrent to others who are in the habit of preventing the police from carrying out their lawful duties.

    ‘’So far, we have deployed sniffer dogs to assist our experts at the scene and they are taking blood sample and examining the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) of some of the suspects in order to ascertain persons behind the criminal den. We have also cordoned the area and invited occupants of some of the buildings which serve as criminal hideout close to the scene. We are still investigating and our men are on ground to contain any unruly behaviour from onlookers.’’

    The den was uncovered on Tuesday after a highway sweeper with the Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) heard a woman calling for help from the canal.

    Two persons found inside the canal were set ablaze, while three others were arrested.

  • Jungle justice at suspected ritualists‘ den in Lagos

    Jungle justice at suspected ritualists‘ den in Lagos

    Two persons were set ablaze yesterday when a suspected ritual kidnappers’ underground den was found in Ijaiye, Lagos State.

    Three persons were arrested.

    The den is inside a canal at Obadeyi/Ajala in Ijaiye on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

    The ritualists ran into troubl when a highway sweeper with the Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) heard a woman calling for help from the canal.

    Two of the suspects caught inside the den were set ablaze by a mob; the others were taken to the Alakuko Police Station.

    They confessed that the den has been in operation for over four years.

    Some soldiers attached to the OPMESA, on a routine patrol of the area, rescued two victims.

    ‘’One of the suspects had boasted that there was nothing they could do to kill him. They were however stoned to death and subsequently set ablaze,’’ an eyewitness said.

    The incident created heavy traffic on the express as residents flocked out the scene.

    One of the recused suspects was said to have confessed that there are over 20 victims inside the canal.

    An eyewitness said: ‘’At about 8am, a LAWMA sweeper heard the cry of a woman from the underground canal which connected Obadeyi bus stop to Ajala/ Ijaiye,  and she alerted bystanders to the scene.

    “The soldiers and policemen searched parts of the underground den and after about four hours later, two persons found unconscious were rescued and taken to a hospital.’’

    It was gathered that the crowd later succeeded and set ablaze one of the suspects, but surprisingly to them, as fire was burning all over him, he appeared unhurt.

    Another eyewitness Adewole Adewale said: “When one of the den’s operators discovered that people were building up, he showed up and people interrogated him. It was when he doesn’t want to talk that they started beating and hitting him with objects. He swallowed a gourd and said if they like they should kill him; he would not talk. By then the Nigeria Police has come to intervene. They were four in number that were apprehended two were built alive, Army arrested one and Police also arrested another one. Four Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards were recovered from one of them. He confessed that 28 persons are working in the den.”

    The Commander of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Olatunji Disu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, who arrived the scene around 3.40pm led his men to search the interiors of the canal.

    Disu, after a fruitless search told journalists that a team of police experts and sniffer dogs would be sent to sniff out suspects and victims inside the canal.

    ‘’Two suspects have been set ablaze and one other rescued by the police while three suspects have so far been arrested.

    ‘’I have just spoken with the Commissioner of Police and a team of experts and sniffer dogs are on their way to fish out those still hidden inside the canal.’’

    Ojokoro Local Council Development Area Chairman Hammed Tijani called calm, assuring that government is investigating the matter and whoever found culpable would be prosecuted.

    Tijani, who visited the scene, appealed to the crowd to go about their normal businesses and allow police to do their job.

    He urged them to cooperate with the police and other relevant agencies in apprehending other suspects.

    He urged them to always be watchful and report suspecting people and activities to concerned agencies.

    Wondering how such gory incident could be happening in such a busy and popular environment, Tijani implored the youth not take laws into their hands.

     

  • Another ritualists’ den uncovered in Ogun

    Another ritualists’ den uncovered in Ogun

    • Police arrest two suspects  

    The Police in Ogun State yesterday uncovered a suspected ritualists’ den  at Iyana-Ilogbo, Otta in Ogun State.

    Two men were arrested at the den—an abandoned Ayokunnu Filling Station, a few metres from the Iyana-Ilogbo bus stop on the Lagos/Abeokuta Express Road.

    Found by the police and an inquisitive crowd that descended on the scene soon after the news of the discovery broke were what looked like the remains of a male victim, clothes, shoes, wigs, a matchete and bags.

    The suspects’ names were given as Babatunde Taofeek and Hammed Hassan.

    The Nation learnt that two persons who had initially been taken to the den to be killed, escaped and effort by the ritualists to recapture them failed.

    The failed recapture of the would-be victims attracted passers-by who swooped on the place and contacted the Police at their Sango Otta Station.

    Angry residents broke down parts of the building which led to the discovery of decomposing and decomposed human parts.

    Other members of the ritual gang were said to have escaped.

    Police Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, who confirmed the incident, said the den was discovered  at about 7am, and that the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Sango Division and men of the Anti-Robbery Squadý acted swiftly and arrested two suspects.

    Adejobi said the suspects were found at the scene in possession of the lifeless body of a man believed to have been killed by their gang.

    He said:”Items recovered from the scene include a cutlass, clothes, shoes and caps, the suspects were at an abandoned filling station (Ayokunnu), at Iyana-Ilogbo.

    “We are also making effort to arrest the owner of the abandoned filling station while the suspects are under interrogation. The Commissioner of Policeý, Mr Abdulmajid Ali, has ordered that the case be transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department of the Command, at Eleweran, Abeokuta for further investigation.”