Police arrest 8 suspects digging human skulls from grave for rituals in Kwara
Azeez Yakub, a.k.a Baba Muri, has allegedly been leading a gang dealing in exhumation and selling of human skulls in Kwara State.
Police arrested Azeez, an alleged notorious armed robber and former prison inmate, after conducting a search on his residence No. 20 Ile Opa Adeta Compound, Ilorin, on October 5.
Azeez and his gang, according to the police, were involved in kidnapping, ritual killings, and exhumation of dead bodies from where they are buried in the community.
The suspects removed their dead victims’ vital body parts such as the skull, genital organs, eyes, human hair, bones and sell to prominent personalities in the country for spiritual powers.
The gang confessed to have sold no fewer than thirty-one human heads to some personalities in Ilorin and other towns in and outside of Kwara.
At least eleven human Skulls, pieces of human bones, human hairs, and powder suspected to be grinded human bones and charms were recovered at Azeez’s house.
Azeez’s accomplices were named as: Abdulrasaq Babamale, Aishat Yunisa, Lukman Saka, Ahmed Yahaya, Soliu Ayinde a.k.a Baba Fawasi, and Abdulganiyu Bamidele. A vigilante Commander in Adeta Zone, Ilorin, identified as Abdulfatai Kadri, was also arrested.
Azeez told the police that Kadri usually carried the human heads to him in batches for safe keeping, and would collect them within a day or two. He said the vigilante commander also informed him of the personalities in Ilorin and other people he was supplying the heads to.
The suspect also said Kadri had brought to him twenty human skulls which he exhumed from the Ilorin Community Central Burial ground situated after Eid-praying ground in Ilorin.
One of the suspects, Babamole, was also mentioned as one of the buyers of the skulls from Azeez. Powder suspected to be grinded human bones was recovered in Babamole’s possession.
A female member of the gang, Aishat, confessed that she supplied two human skulls she obtained from Azeez to one Ahmed Yahaya and Lukman Saka, an allegation which both suspects admitted.
Police also found human bones cut-off from the leg of one of the gang’s victims in another suspect, Ayinde’s possession. Ayinde said he paid Azeez N15,000 to order for a skull.
Bamidele also confessed to have bought human skull from the principal suspect, Azeez.
Police say investigation was ongoing and the suspects would be arraigned in court.
