(FreedomBeacon.com)- After receiving a tip, Nigerian police found 20 mummified bodies inside of a building that is suspected to be a “shrine for ritual killings,” reported Breitbart News. Jennifer Iwegbu, an assistant superintendent of police in Edo, said that her and her colleagues received a tip about the building situated three miles outside of Edo’s Benin City. After searching the building, mummified corpses were discovered, which included 15 males, three females, and two children.
Some corpses were positioned differently in the room they were found in, where some were upright against the wall or lying on the ground, according to Nigeria’s Premium Times. Police reportedly suspect that the building was used for ritual killings.
Upon entering the building, the police found others inside and subsequently arrested three while a number of others evaded arrest and fled the premises. “At the scene, three suspects, Chimaobi Okoewu ‘M’ and Oko Samuel ‘M’ both of Afikpo in Ebonyi and Gideon Sunday ‘M’ of Akwa Ibom State, were arrested, while others fled [sic],” Iwegbu told Nigerian media last week, assuring that an effort is being made to arrest those who evaded.
It is not uncommon for the shrines to be used for “ritualists and kidnappers,” Associated Press reported, adding that the shrine currently discovered is most shocking because of the number of found victims. Neighbors who arrived at the building were reportedly horrified after seeing what had been kept from their eyes for so long.
It is not clear how long the bodies have been kept there, but the arrested suspects are being interrogated. All three are young men, Iwegbu said.
The deputy police commissioner in charge of the state’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is overseeing an investigation into the mummified corpse discovery.
