WE SELL HUMAN PARTS TO PASTORS, IMAMS

"I am not the only seller in the market. Since I started, I have bought only six human skulls.” - Mr Olakunle. LASU Accounting graduate. **I have been a trader at the Oja Oba Market for the past 3 years. My supplier gets them from the cemetery. -Oyebamiji. **I am an Alhaji and also a star reader. I had called prayers several times at a mosque in the Ajegunle. - Opeyemi.

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a gang of human parts traders who were allegedly plying their “business” in several markets in Lagos.

The four-man gang, who were arrested by the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, are Olakunle Ogunsola, Oyebamiji Olalekan, Rasheed Opeyemi and Akorede Wasiu.

Our correspondent learnt that the gang was arrested after a tip-off to the police. It was gathered that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, thereafter directed the SARS Commander, Abba Kyari, to go after the human parts sellers which led to their arrest.

While Olakunle, who is said to be the gang leader, was apprehended at the Ile Epo Market in the Oke Odo area of Lagos, Oyebamiji was caught at the Oja Oba Market in Abule Egba. The other two suspects, Opeyemi and Wasiu, were arrested in the Ajegunle and Ijaiye areas of Lagos respectively.

Olakunle, 26-year-old who hails from Ilaro in Ogun State, confessed that he had sold human parts to Christian and Muslim clerics in the past.

He said, “I usually sell herbs at the Ile Epo Market. It was one Waheed Ajigbotoloun that introduced selling human parts to me. That was just last year October. He was my supplier too, and he told me he used to get them from Joju Cemetery in Sango Ota, Ogun State.

“I didn’t always buy the human parts except when there was a request for them from my customers. Upon request, I have bought human skulls and meat from him for my customers. Some of them are pastors, imams, and native doctors too. I have sold human parts to two pastors this year, but I cannot remember the names of their churches.”

Olakunle, who is married with a child added that the meat he sold could be any part of the human body, and he bought them at prices ranging from N6,000 to N10,000.

He said, “The first pastor I sold to is based in Sango Otta, Ogun State. He paid me N24,500 for the parts. The clerics use these to make their congregations move forward. I also use some of the parts to make charm powder.

“I am not the only seller in the market. There is also one Lukman, who we popularly call Oosa. But since I started, I have bought only six human skulls.”

Olakunle claimed to have finished from the Lagos State University in February 2013 where he studied Accounting. He added that he financed his university education with proceeds from the sale of herbs and human parts.

Forty-year-old Oyebamiji who hails from Ibadan, Oyo State, also confessed to have sold human parts to many people.

He said, “I have been a trader at the Oja Oba Market for the past three years. It is not that I sell only human parts. However, each of the part I sold went for between N6,000 and N7,000. The supplier told me he was getting them from the cemetery. I have sold five to six pieces. I know it was wrong to do this, but I was looking for money.”

For Opeyemi, who is a 51-year-old native doctor from Ikirun, Osun State, he bought the human parts to cure one of his patients in the past.

“I am an Alhaji and also a star reader. I had called prayers several times at a mosque in the Ajegunle. I used the human parts only once for the treatment of one of my patients. The boy was cured and I never bought human parts from anyone again,” he said.

Wasiu, a 31-year-old native doctor from Sango Ota, Ogun State, said he bought two human skulls to prepare concoctions for women looking for children. Wasiu, who is married with four children, confessed to have bought each skull for N4,000.

A police source said SARS men were still continuing with their investigations, adding that the suspects had confessed, naming more human parts buyers who had yet to be arrested.