Police operatives in Kogi have arrested four persons in connection with the murder of a student of the Federal University Lokoja (FUL).
The victim, a 17-year-old 100 Level Student of Biology Department FUL was allegedly kidnapped and killed by a 21-year-old man.
The spokesman for the state police command, Williams Ovye-Aya, disclosed this to journalists on Friday in Lokoja.
He said the prime suspect allegedly conspired with three of his friends to commit the crime.
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The spokesman said: “The Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, attached to the State Intelligence Department (SID), Kogi Command, on September 11 arrested one Jeremiah Paul-Awe of Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State
“Paul-Awe was the one responsible for the kidnapping and killing of the victim.
“We received a complaint from one Stephen Oluwoyo that his daughter was missing and that he couldn’t reach her.
“The father further stated that he received a message from an unknown number that his daughter had been abducted and the abductor demanded a ransom.
“The operatives promptly swung into action through an actionable intelligence with the assistance of the Technical Intelligence Unit (TIU) from the Force Headquarters, trailed and arrested the suspect, Paul Awe on September 11 in connection with the crime.
“During interrogation, the suspect confessed that he kidnapped and killed the victim on September 4 at about 2030hrs.
“He further confessed that he added a drug to the deceased’s food and strangled her.
“He mutilated her corpse by removing her eyes, lung, liver, tongue, intestines, and other parts and dumped the corpse in the bush.
“The suspect further disclosed that immediately after he killed his victim, he placed a call to the father and demanded a ransom to enable him to meet the requirements for the rituals from a native doctor he met on TikTok.
“The father of the deceased, ignorant of her death, sent N400,000 as ransom to the suspect for her release.
“Following Paul-Awe’s arrest on September 11, he led the team of operatives to the scene where the corpse was recovered, evacuated and deposited at the Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja mortuary for autopsy.
“A further investigation led to the arrest of the three other suspects.
“The prime suspect revealed that two of the three suspects were his friends.”
Ovye-Aya said the four suspects would be arraigned in court at the end of the investigation.
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