The suspected ritualists reportedly lured their customers to a bush and beat them to a pulp for failing to pay for the human hand they asked them to provide.
It was gathered that the human part dealers were contracted by three persons, who were interested in money-making rituals.
The suspected ritualists demanded N1m for the ‘commodity’ but the buyers, identified as Matthew Idosu, John Feyisetan and Samuel Adegbola, could not come up with the sum after the hand had been delivered to them.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the incident in a statement.
Oyeyemi said the three human part buyers were arrested by policemen in collaboration with the state security outfit, So-safe Corps, alongside a 40-year-old herbalist, Michael Itomu.
The PPRO explained that the suspects were arrested by the Joint Task Force at Idi-Iroko in the Ipokia Local Government Area of the state.
According to Oyeyemi, the four suspects were arrested for being in possession of a fresh human hand.
The PPRO stated that the suspects had contracted someone in Abeokuta, who promised to get the human hand for them for N1m.
Oyeyemi said the suspects were arrested following information received by policemen attached to the Idi-Iroko Division.
He said the policemen were told that three suspects had sought the help of a herbalist for money rituals.
Oyeyemi added that the herbalist asked them to provide a fresh human hand before he could help them with the money rituals.
He said preliminary investigation revealed that it was Idosu, who contracted a family friend of his in Abeokuta to provide the human hand alongside two others, who are currently at large.
The PPRO stated, “On delivering the hand, the dealers demanded the agreed N1m, but the money was not readily available; this led to a serious scuffle between them and they angrily took away the duo of Samuel Adegbola and John Feyisetan into a bush, where they thoroughly beat them before they were released on May 17, 2020.
“It was the action of those, who supplied the hand, that made the whole secret to leak out and which eventually led to their arrest.”
Oyeyemi said following a tip-off, the Divisional Police Officer, Idiroko Division, CSP Sunday Opebiyi, detailed his detectives in collaboration with men of the So-safe Corps to ambush the suspects as a result of which three of them were apprehended in Owode-Yewa.
“Their arrest led to the arrest of the herbalist in the early hours of Tuesday, May 19, 2020,” the PPRO added.
He said the fresh human hand had been taken to the Idi-Iroko General Hospital for preservation.
Oyeyemi said the Commissioner of Police in the state, Kenneth Ebrimson, had ordered the transfer of the case to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation.
“He also directed that other members of the syndicate, who provided the hand, should be hunted and brought to justice,” Oyeyemi added.