The Niger State Police Command has apprehended five people in possession of a human skull.
The suspects confessed that they were asked by an alfa to bring the skull for a money ritual.
Wasiu Abiodun, the spokesman of the state command, made this known in a statement issued on Friday, saying the whereabouts of the alfa could not be known.
According to Abiodun, two of the earlier apprehended suspects, Isah Mohammed, 26, and Idris Mohammed, 28, both of Sakpe village in Edati Local Government Area, took them to the other three suspects.
“On the 11th of this month, at about 12.30, operatives of a sister security agency, while on routine patrol at the toll gate along Bida-Minna Road, intercepted a Mitsubishi Lancer vehicle, and in the course of searching the passengers, two suspects were arrested.
“The two suspects were found in possession of a human skull wrapped in a Bagco bag; hence, the suspects were transferred to the Police Area Command, Bida, for interrogation and further investigation.
“During police interrogation, the suspects claimed that they got the human skull from their village and mentioned three other persons who aided in digging the grave where the skull was exhumed: Ibrahim Jiya 18, Suleiman Usman 22, Abdullahi Usman 24, all of the same address mentioned above.
“The three suspects were also arrested and confessed further that the skull was dug out from the Sakpe village burial ground and that it was that of one Ndako Daniyan who died three years ago in the same village,” Abiodun stated.
The two suspects claimed to have met Alfa Suleiman from Kwara State three weeks ago in Bida, who instructed them to obtain a human skull for money ritual purposes.