Five suspects allegedly involved in the possession of a human skull for a money ritual along the Minna-Bida road in the state has been arrested by the Niger State Police Command.
Two of the suspects, Isah Mohammed (26 years old) and Idris Mohammed (28 years old), both from Sakpe village in Edati Local Government Area, were initially reported to have being caught with the skull wrapped in a bag by a sister security agency during a routine patrol.
They were later handed over to the state Police Area Command in Bida for further investigation and it was during this process that they revealed the names of three others who assisted them in exhuming a corpse and removing the head.
The Niger state Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), DSP Wasiu Abiodun, while confirming the incident, said the suspects were intercepted in a Mitsubishi Lancer vehicle by a sister security agency at the toll gate along Bida-Minna while they were searching the passengers on September 11, 2023, in the afternoon.
“During police interrogation, the suspects claimed that they obtained the human skull from their village and were aided by three other individuals to the grave where the skull was exhumed”, he said.
Other suspects are Ibrahim Jiya (18 years old), Suleiman Usman (22 years old), and Abdullahi Usman (24 years old), from the same address.
According to the police spokesman, the three suspects after being apprehended confessed that the skull was dug out from the burial ground in Sakpe village, belonging to Ndako Daniyan, who passed away three years ago in the same village.
“Two of the suspects, Isah and Abdullahi, claimed to have met an individual named Alfa Suleiman from Kwara State in Bida three weeks ago. He instructed them to obtain a human skull for a money ritual and advised them to take it to someone in Minna, providing N30,000 for the purpose. The unknown recipient instructed them to call him when they reached Kpakungu, and he would meet them”, he said.
