The Edo State Police Command has arrested a mortuary attendant in the Upper Sakponba area of Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of the state following allegations of missing vital organs from a corpse kept at Akugbe Mortuary.
The incident, the News Agency of Nigeria learnt, triggered a violent reaction from relatives of the deceased.
The situation reportedly escalated when angry family members and friends accused the mortuary attendant of harvesting organs from the body.
Relatives of the deceased were said to have raised the alarm when they arrived at the mortuary on Friday to collect the body for burial and allegedly discovered that some vital organs were missing.
An eyewitness, Osaro Ivie, described the scene as chaotic, saying 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 said the relatives threatened to lynch the attendant and set the facility ablaze before police operatives intervened to restore calm.
The spokesperson of the command, ASP Eno Ikoedem, who confirmed the incident on Sunday said the command received a distress call that a mob was on the verge of attacking 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.
Ikoedem explained that the suspect was rescued from the crowd and subsequently taken into custody.
She added that the suspect was currently being detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), where investigations were ongoing to determine the circumstances surrounding the allegation.
Ikoedem assured the public that a thorough investigation would be conducted, urging residents to remain calm and allow due process to take its course.
