The police command in Ogun says it has arrested five suspected members of a ritual gang, which specialises in exhuming corpses from graves and removing body parts for rituals.

The police spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who disclosed this in a statement in Abeokuta on Sunday, said the suspects were arrested on Saturday in Odogbolu.

Mr Oyeyemi gave the suspects’ names as Oshole Fayemi, 60; Oseni Adesanya, 39; Ismaila Seidu, 30; Oseni Oluwasegun, 69; and Lawal Olaiya, 50.

He said the suspects were arrested following intelligence from the police at Odogbolu Divisional Headquarters that the gang was planning to carry out another round of human parts harvest within Ososa town.

He said the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Odogbolu Division, Godwin Idehai, immediately mobilised his men and stormed the suspects’ hideout where five of them were apprehended.

“On interrogation, the suspects made confessional statements that they were actually into the business of exhuming corpses from their graves.

“They said that they usually sold the exhumed body parts to their clients who used them for money-making rituals,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Frank Mba, has directed that the suspects be transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department for discreet investigation and possible prosecution.

(NAN)