A mortuary attendant in the Upper Sakponba area of Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State has been arrested by the police over allegations that vital organs were missing from a corpse kept at Akugbe Mortuary.
The incident reportedly triggered a violent reaction from relatives of the deceased, who raised the alarm on Friday when they arrived at the mortuary to collect the body for burial and allegedly discovered that some organs were missing.
Eyewitnesses said the situation quickly became tense as family members accused the attendant of harvesting organs for ritual purposes. One witness, Osaro Ivie, described the scene as chaotic, noting that the relatives alleged that the chest cavity of the deceased had been emptied and stuffed with nylon.
The mob was said to have threatened to lynch the attendant and set the mortuary ablaze before police operatives intervened to restore order.
Confirming the incident on Sunday, the Edo State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Eno Ikoedem, said the command received a distress call that a suspect at Akugbe Mortuary was about to be lynched by an angry crowd.
“The Divisional Police Officer of Ugbekun Division was immediately mobilised to rescue a mortuary attendant alleged to have harvested organs from a corpse,” Ikoedem said.
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She added that the suspect was rescued from the mob and taken into custody. According to her, the attendant is currently being detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department, where investigations are ongoing to determine the circumstances surrounding the allegation.
Ikoedem urged members of the public to remain calm and allow due process to take its course, assuring that a thorough investigation would be conducted.
In a related development, the police also confirmed the arrest of 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 in Igueben Local Government Area of Edo State.
Ikoedem said the incident occurred on December 5 and that the body was later exhumed for further investigation following information provided by the suspect’s mother, who is the grandmother of the deceased.