A joint effort by security operatives and community vigilantes in Delta State, South-South Nigeria, has resulted in the recovery of decomposing corpses believed to be those of police officers allegedly murdered by herdsmen.
The grim discovery occurred during a search and rescue operation for three missing police officers in Ohoror community, Ughelli North Local Government Area of the state, conducted on Tuesday.
According to reports from SaharaReporters, the officers vanished on January 24, 2024, in Ohoror community while responding to a distress call from one Moses Progress. Progress had sought help after an attack by herdsmen interrupted his ritual sacrifice to the river gods under a bridge.
Prompted by the officers’ disappearance and the distress call, security personnel and vigilantes combed a nearby forest on Sunday. Their search led them to the operational hideouts of the suspected assailants.
Tragically, the search revealed the bodies of the missing policemen, who had been fatally attacked and stripped of their weapons by the assailants. The search team also uncovered three additional decomposing corpses, bringing the total body count found in the Agadama bush to six.
A member of the search team, speaking anonymously to SaharaReporters, disclosed that efforts were underway to apprehend the perpetrators, with images of the disturbing scene shared as evidence. The recovered corpses were transferred to the morgue of Mariere Central Hospital in Ughelli.
Meanwhile, discussions are ongoing among authorities on strategies to combat the menace of killer herders who have reportedly taken control of forests and bushlands in Delta State.
Efforts to reach the spokesman for the state police command, DSP Bright Edafe, were unsuccessful as calls and messages went unanswered.
