Thelma Osatohanmwen
The Kaduna State Police Command has arrested a nine-man gang of ritualists suspected to be members of the Neo Black Movement, NBM carrying human blood.
The suspects were nabbed with a jerry can containing human blood at a Cemetery in Dutsen Abba Ward along the Zaria-Kaduna expressway.
Confirming the arrest, ASP Mansur Hussaini, Public Relations Officer of the Command, disclosed that the breakthrough followed a tip-off from a vigilant source.
The suspects were reportedly sighted at the cemetery, prompting the Saye Lowcost Division to swiftly respond to the alert.
The arrested individuals, identified as Samson Ezekiel (32), Samuel Francis (27), Usman Nura (34), Gabriel Sheba (23), Haruna Sa’id (37), Bala Lukman (27), and Jabir Rilwan (37), were found in possession of incriminating items.
Among the recovered items were two locally made pistols, a Beretta pistol, two jacket knives, two calabashes, and a jerrycan filled with human blood.
According to Hussaini, the suspects confessed to obtaining the human blood after slaughtering an elderly man and disposing of his body near the Jaji military cantonment in neighboring Igabi Local Government Area.
They further revealed that the victim’s body parts were dismembered and taken away by another gang based in Kaduna.