Police nab mortuary attendant over organ harvesting in Edo

Map of Edo State

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A mortuary attendant in the Upper Sakponba area of Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State has landed in police net following allegations of missing vital organs from a corpse kept at Akugbe Mortuary.

The incident, the News Agency of Nigeria learnt, triggered a violent reaction from relatives of the deceased.

The situation reportedly escalated when angry family members and friends accused the mortuary attendant of harvesting organs from the body.

Relatives of the deceased were said to have raised the alarm when they arrived at the mortuary on Friday to collect the body for burial and allegedly discovered that some vital organs were missing.

An eyewitness, Osaro Ivie, described the scene as chaotic, saying tempers flared after family members accused the attendant of engaging in ritual practices.

“The relatives claimed that the chest cavity of the deceased had been emptied and stuffed with nylon,” Ivie said.

He said the relatives threatened to lynch the attendant and set the facility ablaze before police operatives intervened to restore calm.

Confirming the incident on Sunday, the Police Public Relations Officer in Edo, ASP Eno Ikoedem, said the command received a distress call that a mob was on the verge of attacking a suspect at the mortuary.

“The command received a distress call that someone at Akugbe Mortuary was about to be lynched, and the Divisional Police Officer, Ugbekun Division, was immediately mobilised to rescue a mortuary attendant alleged to have harvested organs of a corpse,” Ikoedem said.

Ikoedem explained that the suspect was rescued from the crowd and subsequently taken into custody.

She added that the suspect was currently being detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), where investigations were ongoing to determine the circumstances surrounding the allegation.

Ikoedem assured the public that a thorough investigation would be conducted, urging residents to remain calm and allow due process to take its course.

In another development, PUNCH Online had earlier reported that the Edo State Police Command arrested a 49-year-old man for allegedly killing his 15-year-old son and secretly burying the body within their family compound at Uhe Community, Igueben Local Government Area of the state.

Ikoedem disclosed that the incident occurred on December 5.

She said the body was later exhumed for further investigation after the suspect’s mother, who is also the grandmother of the deceased, provided useful information to the police.

(NAN)

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