WARRI — One of the two suspected ritualists and human parts sellers arrested in May at Otokutu in Warri by the Delta State police command yesterday died at the Okere Minimum prisons, fueling allegation of murder by unknown persons.
The suspect, Vanguard gathered, developed multiple ailments in custody few days after he was handed over to the authorities of the prisons by investigators from the police command headquarters in Asaba.
According to close prison sources, the Okere Prison inmates and authorities of the prison observed that when he was brought into the prison’s custody, the suspect was not looking healthy, “but they felt it was normal after being interrogated for hours by policemen.”
Vanguard gathered that the death of the leading suspect in the Otokutu discovery that rocked Warri in May might not be unconnected with his confession that some government functionaries and politicians sought their services in the past.
Vanguard's correspondent, who visited the prison yesterday to confirm the death of the suspect was unsuccessful as the Okere Prison Controller, through its Medical officer, Dr. A. Henry, refused to talk on the incident, insisting that the only competent person to speak on the matter, is the Minister of Internal Affairs.
But Vanguard reliably gathered that the corpse of the suspected ritualist has been deposited at the Central Hospital mortuary in Warri, and the whereabouts of the other suspect still remains unknown.
It was gathered that the prison authorities are insisting that an independent autopsy be conducted to ascertain the cause of death and dispel the rumour making the rounds that they were paid by some highly placed persons to silence the suspect.
It would be recalled that in May, this year, two men were arrested by youths of Otokutu community at a spot under a bridge along the Effurun –Delta Steel Company expressway in Ughelli South Local government area with human parts and roasted corpse of a child hung on a wood and handed them over to the Delta State police command.
A few days after their arrest, however, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Charles Akaya ordered their transfer to the police headquarters in Asaba for further interrogation. The interrogation, Akaya told newsmen, was successful as they had made confession that would help the police in their investigations.
Attempts by Vanguard to speak with the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Charles Akaya on telephone proved abortive, as a voice after repeated calls simply said “the Commissioner would not comment on the matter, as he was not aware of such incident.”
