Otokoto in Onitsha: Police arrest 11 with human heads

 The Anambra State Police Command on Thursday recorded another landmark achievement when it arrested 11 persons and discovered two fresh human heads in a hotel in Onitsha.

Also recovered in the hotel (names withheld) were two military AK47 rifles and two magazines.

It was gathered that policemen from the Onitsha Area Command acting on a tip off swooped on the hotel located at the bank of the River Niger in the popular Ose-Okwodu market in the early hours of yesterday after several intelligence gathering concerning the criminal activities in the said hotel. The arrested suspects were six female and five men including the owner of the hotel.

A police source, who pleaded anonymity disclosed that during the operation that lasted for hours, the police team, led by a senior police officer attached to the IGP Monitoring Unit, cordoned off the hotel after several intelligence reports that human meat were being served to guests in the said hotel.

He revealed that when the police got access to the hotel, they made a startling discovery of two decomposing human heads wrapped in a cellophane bag, two AK47 rifles, two army caps, 40 rounds of live ammunition and so many cell phones.

Though the Onitsha Area Commander, Mr. Benjamin Wordu declined further comment on the matter on the grounds that the police were still investigating the case to make further discovery, Daily Sun also gathered that during the operation, a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) belonging to the owner of the hotel was also recovered.

Also speaking on the incident, a market woman selling vegetable at the Ose-Okwodu market, opposite the hotel where the suspects were arrested said she had raised the alarm over the criminal activities in the hotel before the incident.

“Each time I came to market, because the hotel is very close to the market, I always noticed funny movements in and out of the hotel; dirty people with dirty characters always come into the hotel. So, I was not surprised when the police made this discovery in the early hours of yesterday,” she said.

One of the suspects who identified himself as a cleaner in the hotel, said she called her daughter to help her out with the job yesterday as she was not feeling well, only to be rounded up by security men. She disclosed that she had told the hotel management to give her the keys to the hotel room where the bad odour oozed out but to no avail.

A pastor who was among the early callers to the Onitsha Area Command who did not want his name in print said: “I went to the hotel early this year, after eating, I was told that a lump of meat was being sold at N700, I was surprised. So I did not know it was human meat that I ate at such expensive price.”

However, members of the civil society, led by Justus Ijeoma called on the police not to compromise the investigations to unravel those behind the ugly incident while commending the police for bringing their intelligence to bear.

Meanwhile, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Emeka Chukwuemeka confirmed the incident and said the police had intensified manhunt for the all members of the cartel.

Culled from The Sun