Ritualists Den Uncovered In Onitsha •20 Corpses, Arms Found

There was pandemonium, Friday morning, in the commercial city of Onitsha, Anambra State, when a joint team of soldiers and Anambra State Task Force on Crime Prevention discovered about 20 corpses inside a concrete tunnel located at the foot of an MTN mast, around the popular Upper Iweka axis. Also found inside the tunnel were human parts, different types of arms and ammunition, gallons of raw acid (both empty and filled), food items and mattresses believed to be owned by a gang of ritualists operating at Upper Iweka axis, terrorising innocent travellers who arrived Onitsha late or too early. As at the time of filing this report, more corpses were still being discovered as members of the task force and some passers-by who were persuaded by the soldiers were still busy clearing the surrounding bushes. The discovery of the corpses, according to witnesses, followed a scream from a lady who was being raped by the suspected ritualists inside the tunnel at about 6.00 a.m, Friday morning. According to the source, the hoodlums had abducted the lady traveller, dragged her into the tunnel, dispossessed her of all personal belongings, stripped her naked and  raped her one after the other, but as she was screaming in pains while the rape lasted, some members of the government task force on crime control heard her  and rushed to the scene. As the rapists sighted the task force men approaching their tunnel, the source stated, the hoodlums abandoned their victim, jumped into the surrounding bush and dispersed. However, members of the task force gave them a hot chase and succeeded in arresting one of the fleeing gangsters at Ochanja market and handed him over to the police. Among the corpses found was one believed to be that of a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) with the service uniform still intact on the badly decomposed corpse. Meanwhile, the rape victim who was rushed to a nearby clinic gave up the ghost before receiving medical attention due to the degree of injuries received during the rape.