Three suspects have been arrested by Osun State Police Command for exhuming corpses and possessing human body parts intended for money-making rituals. Ogunbode Taiwo, 47, confessed to convincing his hesitant relative, Afeez Lateef, 30, to participate in the scheme after years of failed attempts to improve his life through various native doctors. A native doctor, Ogo Thomas, 55, was also arrested. Police recovered human flesh, bones, teeth, and ritual materials from a dilapidated building in Ile-Ogbo on December 3.
Thomas admitted learning about the ritual from records belonging to a deceased Ifa priest in Abeokuta, though he had never performed such rituals before. The suspects visited a Muslim cemetery at Gaa Fulani Area on December 2, exhuming corpses to extract body parts, teeth, and burial cloths needed for the fortune-making ritual called “oshólè.” “We did not bring out the corpses from the grave; we just excavated some sand till we got to the buried bodies. We removed the things we needed and covered it,” Thomas explained to investigators.
Commissioner of Police Ibrahim Gotan has directed divisional officers to intensify intelligence-led raids on criminal hideouts. The syndicate reportedly specialized in grave desecration regardless of corpse condition, covering their tracks by refilling excavated graves. Lateef claimed he was assigned as lookout while the others extracted body parts, having paid N186,000 of the N200,000 demanded by Thomas. All three suspects have confessed and will face charges after investigation completion, according to police spokesman DSP Abiodun Ojelabi.