A 49-year-old man has been arrested by the Ogun State police command for bathing with blood at a river bank.

SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, the command’s spokesman, disclosed this in a statement issued in Abeokuta on Thursday.

Mr Oyeyemi explained that the suspect, a resident of No. 4, Oguji Street, Obantoko, Abeokuta, was arrested on Thursday while perpetrating the act at a river in Kotopo area of Odeda Local Government Area of the state.

“The suspect was arrested when members of the community sighted him at the River bank, where he parked his Nissan commercial vehicle, came out with a local sponge and a container filled with blood and started bathing with it.

“Immediately he observed that some people were watching him, he took to his heels, but was chased and apprehended by members of the community.

“A call was made to the police at Aregbe Divisional headquarters by a member of the community, and the Divisional Police Officer, SP Bunmi Asogbon, quickly led a patrol team to the scene where the suspect was arrested.

“When interrogated, the suspect claimed to have a spiritual problem and that a herbalist instructed him to perform the ritual.

“He claimed further that the blood in his possession was not human blood, but that of a cow,” the command’s spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Lanre Bankole, has directed that the remaining blood should be taken for laboratory analysis to ascertain whether it was human blood or not.

The CP also praised members of the community for not taking laws into their hands, assuring that the suspect would be properly investigated and if found liable would be prosecuted. 

(NAN)