Police Recover Bodies Of 2 Edo Victims Killed By Kidnappers In Forest
The Edo State Police Command has recovered two corpses from the forest along the Benin-Lagos Expressway, victims who were kidnapped last month from the Ekiadolor area, following the arrest of a member of a seven-man kidnapping syndicate operating on the Benin-Lagos and Benin-Akure expressways.
The recovery was led by the State Commander of the Violent Crime Response Unit (VCRU), CSP Osagie Godspower, who took journalists and health officials into the forest where the bodies were found, after operatives engaged the suspects in a gun battle.
The breakthrough came on May 19, 2026, when VCRU operatives sighted four members of the syndicate in the forest and engaged them in a gun battle, with many escaping with gunshot injuries, according to the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Eno Ikoedem.
Days later, operatives arrested a 24-year-old suspect, Haruna Musa, while he was trying to receive treatment for his gunshot wound, and he has since confessed to the crime and led police to the location where two bodies were recovered, including that of a 15-year-old boy whose body had been evacuated earlier.
One of the victims, whose mother was among those killed, narrated that the kidnappers struck their home in the Iyowa community of Ekiadolor, abducting herself, her mother, and the maid staying with them.
She explained that three more families were later abducted and brought to join them in the forest, making a total of four families, and they were made to trek around the forest at night while the kidnappers rested during the day.
“We were here at this spot for two days, when they asked my mother her age, she responded 66. They asked another woman and she said 45 and one small boy, who was 15 years. We initially thought they were going to let those ones go because of their age, but later in the evening they took them down this way,” she said.
After some arguments, the kidnappers shot the other woman on the shoulder, and the bullet also struck the victim’s mother, with the other woman going quiet immediately while her mother continued talking and praying before breathing heavily and later stopping.
The suspect, 24-year-old Haruna Musa, confessed to being a member of the seven-man syndicate after briefly working as a cattle handler in Ogun State last year.
“Me na cattles I dey control. The Sallah when passed, no be this one, the other one, one of my brothers call me make I come control cow for Ogun State, but no be Fulani get am, na ordinary person get am when dem wan take do Sallah. As dem sell the cow finish for Sallah, that my brother come say make I come say another work dey. Na so we take come here when I see say na this kind work. I fear say if I tell dem say I no dey do that time, dem go kill me, so I no get choice than to follow them,” Musa said.
The victim disclosed that her family later paid N11 million and brought other items, while other families also paid ransom before they were all released.
CSP Osagie Godspower stated that the VCRU was still on the trail of the remaining members of the kidnapping syndicate and expressed confidence that they would be rounded up soon.
