By Hammed Salawu, Minna

The Special Tactical Squad of the Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Kpotun Idris, attached to Abuja-Minna Highways, for sustained monitoring ,  has smashed a syndicate which specialized in beheading their victims for ritual purposes in parts of  Niger State .

This was following the arrest of two notorious ritualists,  Abdulrashed Aminu{22-year old }and Ismaila Mohammed {27-year old} in possession of a fresh human head at about 9pm last Saturday by the squad along Minna Paikoro road’s junction .during a stop and search

The Police Public Relations Officer, Niger State Command, DSP Babalola Olanrewaju Adewole stated this in a Press Statement signed and made available to newsmen  in Minna, adding that the victim whose severed  head was found in possession of the suspects was an 8-year old boy, identified as Hassan Abubakar of Bakajeba village in Paiko Local Government of the state.

The two suspects, according to the release were said to have confessed to the crime as well as informing Homicide detectives during interrogation at the Homicide section of the State Criminals Investigations and Intelligence Department {SCIID] Minna that they cut off the head of the deceased little boy with the use  of two sharp knife while the  third member of the syndicate,  one Ibrahim{other names unknown} escaped arrest by the police and he was still at large as of the time of filing this report

DSP Adewole stated further that the two suspected ritualists who are now cooling their heels in the police cell were said to have claimed to be indigenes of Lupa and Makera , while their fleeing accomplice in crime was also from the same  Paiko Local Government  of the state.

The suspects  were said to have taken the police to the spot where the headless body of the victim was buried in a bush path very close to where the culpable homicide   was committed by them  for exhumation by the police .

Also, the bereaved father of the slain  victim, Mallam Abubakar Shuaib was also said to have told the police  that his son was last seen on Saturday August 26, while allegedly taking  a Kettle of water from the house with the view to giving  an unknown person who was said to have been waiting outside  his house on the fateful evening .

“And since then, the boy was  nowhere to  be found until he heard that the police had arrested a suspect with human head which he later  identified the victim to be  his son”, the PPRO stated .