More bodies recovered from Benue mass graves

The number of bodies that have so far been exhumed from shallow graves in Gbatse, Ushongo Local Government Area of Benue State has risen to 11.

Daily Sun had reported that some kidnap suspects were discovered to be in the habit of killing their victims and burying them in shallow graves after collecting ransom from their families.

As at yesterday, seven suspects including suspected leader of the gang, Iorwuese Kpila, were said to have been arrested in connection with the gruesome killings.

Other suspects included Tersoo Agee, Agabi Charles, Chiahemen Baa and Ortema alias ‘10 tyres.’

Governor Samuel Ortom who paid an on-the-spot visit to the scene at the foot of Ushongo hills said four members of the gang were at large and may currently be on the run.

He said there was every likelihood that more bodies may be recovered at the end of the exercise.

The governor, who disclosed that the bodies that were identified have been handed over to their families for proper burial, said the abductors may have killed the suspects to get rich through the back door.

Corroborating the governor’s claim, some of the locals said the motive behind the killings may have been triggered by quest by the suspects to acquire spiritual powers.

The governor also stated that government was collaborating with security agencies to commence a clampdown on criminal elements in Katsina-Ala, Ushongo, Ukum, Kwande, Logo and Vandeikya local government areas.

Governor Ortom lamented the situation where criminal elements take the lives of others at will and even go to the extent of killing their victims despite collecting ransom from families of the victims.

Narrating how the bubble burst in the suspected kidnappers, Chairman, Ushongo LGA, Bemsen Agugu told newsmen that the District Head of Mbagwaza, Chief Julius Kpenkpen, recently called his Mbayegh counterpart, Chief Nathaniel Hoyo and informed him that two of his subjects engaged the services of two commercial motorcyclists  (okada riders) from Mbagwaza and after several days, no one had heard from them.

Based on the information, the District Head of Mbayegh called a meeting of leaders of the two communities and demanded that the family of one of the suspects, Iorwuese Kpila (the ring leader) produce him.

The chairman stated that when Kpila finally showed up, he was arrested and handed over to the police, adding that it was in the course of investigations that it was established that he was one of the culprits. Further investigation led to the arrest of six of his accomplices.