Police arrest 2 for exhuming corpses, selling parts for rituals

The operatives of the Oyo State Police Command have arrested two suspects for allegedly exhuming corpses and selling of their parts to ritualists.

The command’s spokesperson, Adewale Osifeso, disclosed this in a statement on Friday, March 21, 2025.

Osifeso said the arrest of the suspects was made following a tip-off received by detectives at the Iyaganku Divisional Police Headquarters in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State.

Osifeso stated that acting on the information, police detectives were immediately deployed to conduct a search of the residence of one the suspects located at the Muslim area of Ibadan.

He said: “During the search, a female human torso and other dismembered human remains, including severed limbs and dried bones, which were stored in bags and a paint buckets, were recovered.

“In his confession, the suspect claimed to have exhumed the corpse from a cemetery in Awa-Ijebu, Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State, and admitted to selling the body parts to ritualists.”

The police spokesman disclosed that the suspect later led police officers to the cemetery, where his claim was verified.

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He added that further confession led to the arrest of the second suspect, a septuagenarian, who bought some human parts from the first suspect.

Osifeso said: “He also admitted to his involvement in the illicit trade in human body parts.

“The case has been transferred to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation Department for detailed investigation, as efforts are being intensified to identify and apprehend all those involved.”

Osifeso said the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Johnson Ademola, had alerted managers of cemeteries to exercise heightened vigilance in light of recent instances of ritualists exhuming corpses.

Ademola also warned transporters to scrutinise the contents of their passengers’ bags and baggages to avoid inadvertently facilitating illicit activities.

The Star