Nigeria police investigate rotting bodies in 'house of horrors'
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 25 March, 2014, 12:17am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 25 March, 2014, 12:17am
Agence France-Presse in Lagos
Human skulls lie in the southwestern Nigerian city of Ibadan, on the bush path where rotting bodies and skeletons were discovered in an abandoned building. Photo: AFP
Police in Nigeria are investigating the discovery of rotting bodies and skeletons in an abandoned building branded a "house of horror".
Police rescued several severely malnourished people founded wandering in jungle near the building in the southwestern city of Ibadan, and more were found shackled in leg chains inside.
The discovery came after motorcycle taxi riders reported that some of their members had gone missing and were believed to have been kidnapped.
"When we got to the abandoned building in the Soka community of Ibadan, we saw decomposed corpses, skeletons and skulls in the building and surrounding bushes," Oyo state police spokeswoman Olabisi Ilobanafor said.
"Some seven malnourished human beings looking like living skeletons were also rescued in the bush surrounding the building. One of them died on the spot while we were there," she said on Sunday.
Ilobanafor said police had launched a murder investigation and arrested six suspects at the scene in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo state and the third largest city in Nigeria. They included five security guards allegedly armed with guns and bows and arrows.
"It is not a common occurrence in Ibadan or in the state. The police will investigate this crime in all its ramifications," she said.
Victims of kidnapping in Nigeria are often tortured or sacrificed in black magic rituals.
Media have also reported cases of human body parts being sold across the country, especially in the southern region, for ritual purposes.
The Ibadan-based Sunday Tribune, Nigeria's oldest private newspaper, showed gruesome pictures of rotting bodies, human skulls and other body parts littering the scene, as well as identification papers and ATM cards, shoes, bags and clothes.
