by ‘Jola Sotubo

The Niger State Police have apprehended three persons suspected of beheading a 10-year-old boy.

The State Police Command made this known through its Public Relations Officer, ASP Richard Oguche. Oguche disclosed this to newsmen in Minna and said that the young boy is suspecetd to have been beheaded for ritual purposes.

Full report below:

Oguche said that the police discovered during their investigation that one Salleh Ibrahim lured the victim to Amale Village to meet two of his other accomplices, Usman Sarki and Dantala Doma.

Amale Village is located in Kaffi-koro district in the Paiko Local Government Area of Niger State. Oguche said that Sarki had confessed that he was contracted to bring a male head by one Gajere, now at-large, for money-making ritual.

The head of the victim was traced to Ibrahim’s residence, who led the police to the residence of the other two accomplices. The spokesman of the police said that the suspects when interrogated, volunteered to take the police to where the headless body of the victim was buried.

Oguche said: “The suspects took the police to River Erena in the Shiroro Local Government Area of the state, where the headless body of the boy was buried in a shallow grave.

“Ibrahim also told the police that he was contacted by Sarki to bring a human head so that they would use it for money-making ritual.

“He also told the police that Usman told him that one Gajere had contracted him to bring the head of a little boy for them to make ritual for money.

“He claimed to have found the boy along Amale Road and accosted him before he took him to Usman Sarki’s house.

“It was Usman Sarki that later took him to Dantala Doma’s house and that Dantala killed the boy with a cutlass and removed the head,” the police spokesman stated.

Oguche said that investigation into the matter had commenced and that the three suspects would be arraigned in court for prosecution.

He said the case was sensitive and that the police could not afford to rush it but would make discreet investigation.

“We want to get to the root of the whole matter so that at the end of it, we will take them to court for proper prosecution,” Oguche stated.

He said that the command had directed police out posts within the Kaffin-koro Division to reach out to community leaders to know if there was any reported case of missing child.

“Up till this moment, we have not received any report from these areas,” Oguche said.

He called on parents to always monitor the movement of their children and wards to guide against such ugly incidents.