No fewer than five suspected ritual killers were arrested by the officials of Igbotako Police Command in Ondo State as they uncovered a den where the suspects allegedly slaughter their victims and sell their body parts at Ago Oyinbo in Okitipupa area of the state.
Residents of the community disclosed that the ritual killers had operated in the den for about 3 years before luck finally ran out on them.
Punch reports that sequel to the discovery of the illegal activities of the suspects, the youths of the community alerted the police who reportedly stormed the village and made the arrests.
The mud building allegedly used for the act was demolished while some of the fetish items found there had been burnt by the irate youths of the community on Monday, June 1, 2015.
Among items seen at the hideout were cow horns, clothes said to be those of the slain victims, palm fronds, bottles of gin, calabashes, ‘Ghana must go’ bags and so on.
The Baale of the community, Chief Moyebi Okeowo, explained that the suspected ritualist came to the community in 2012, asking for a spot where they can be using to shoot movies without knowing they had ulterior motives.
He said, “They came to me to beg for a piece of land to shoot their film. I told them I was not the owner of the land and I took them to the brother of the landlord of the land who then took them to the wife of the landlord in Akure.
“I asked somebody to take them to the owner of the land, unknown to him that they wanted to use the village as a kidnappers den. When they came to me to beg for a piece of land to shoot their film, I told them I am not the owner of the land and I took them to the brother of the landlord of the land who took them to the wife of the landlord in Akure.
“I learnt they were authorised by the wife of the landlord to use the land and since then they have been using the land. I told their leader to go and report their activities to the police and he later informed me that he had done so.”
The police spokesperson in the state, Mr. Wole Ogodo, said he was yet to get any information in connection with the issue.
