The Edo State Police Command has taken a mortuary attendant into custody in the Upper Sakponba area of Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area following allegations of missing vital organs from a corpse at Akugbe Mortuary.
The incident reportedly sparked a violent reaction from relatives of the deceased. Tensions escalated when family members and friends accused the attendant of harvesting organs from the body. Relatives are said to have raised the alarm upon arriving at the mortuary on Friday to collect the body for burial, allegedly discovering that some vital organs were missing.
An eyewitness, Osaro Ivie, described the scene as chaotic, noting that tempers flared after family members accused the attendant of engaging in ritual practices. “The relatives claimed that the chest cavity of the deceased had been emptied and stuffed with nylon,” Ivie said. He added that relatives threatened to lynch the attendant and set the mortuary ablaze before police intervention restored calm.
The spokesperson for the command, ASP Eno Ikoedem, confirmed the incident on Sunday, stating that the command received a distress call about a mob preparing to attack a suspect at the mortuary. “The command received a distress call that someone at Akugbe Mortuary was about to be lynched, and the Divisional Police Officer, Ugbekun Division, was immediately mobilised to rescue a mortuary attendant alleged to have harvested organs of a corpse,” Ikoedem said.
She explained that the suspect was rescued from the crowd and subsequently taken into custody. Ikoedem added that the attendant is currently detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), where investigations are ongoing to determine the circumstances surrounding the allegation.
Ikoedem assured the public that a thorough investigation would be conducted and urged residents to remain calm and allow due process to take its course.
