Three persons in the business of luring and kidnapping girls for the purpose of killing and selling their parts have been arrested by the Ondo State police command.
They have also confessed to have been involved in the kidnapping of students of the Adeyemi College of Education in Ondo town.
While parading the suspects at the police command in Akure on Thursday, newly deployed Commissioner of Police, Gbenga Adeyanju, said the suspects had been engaged in the crime for a while and had extended their activities to neighbouring states.
He said the suspects, John Adenitire, a.k.a Emir; Fisayo Fasanu, a.k.a Abore, and Abdurafiu Tijani, a herbalist, were arrested at different locations, and had confessed to killing three students of Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo.
Mr. Adeyanju noted that a report of a missing girl made at Fagun Police station in Ondo town on July 28 triggered police investigation that led to the arrest of the suspects.
He explained that one of the suspects, Mr. Adenitire, was arrested in a robbery incident in Ondo, and later confessed to the kidnap and killing of the missing girl for ritual.
He said further investigation led to the discovery of two other female students who had been killed for rituals disclosing that Mr. Adenitire’s confession led to the arrest of two other suspects who participated in the killing.
According to the police boss, Messrs. Adenitire and Fasanu specifically confessed to selling the bodies of the ladies to Mr. Tijani in Ore, who promised to pay N15 million for the parts of the ladies.
Admitting his involvement, Mr. Adenitire, 30, said he was yet to get any pay for the parts of the ladies delivered to the cleric.
“They promised to give us N5 million for a left breast and left hand and we were able to send three different bodies to them but they have not send the money before the police nabbed me,” he said.
“We have killed three girls and remove their breast and buried their remains in the bush. We gave the parts to the Alfa and Sile who is also part of us but has taken to his heels after our arrest.
“I was not there when the victims were killed but I was the one keeping vigil at the entrance of the bush and the operation was successful. I did not participate in the killing.”
Mr. Fasanu also made confessions, saying, “I was in my house when John Adenitire, Emir, told me he has business that can lead to cool money for us. He told me it’s about ritual and assured me there was no problem.
“We went out the second day around 9:30 p.m. and two girls and one boy were picked and we killed them before removing their parts while Sile took them to herbalists in Ore and Ijebu Igbo.”
Further shedding light on the arrest, Mr. Adeyanju noted that the suspects only made confessions to killing and mutilating the bodies of their victims for ritual purposes after series of interrogation.
“They took us to where they buried one of the victims, and we found the body already decomposing,” he said.
Two female students of the college, Oladepo Blessing and Oluwasemilore Mary, were earlier declared missing.
