A major disagreement has erupted as police in Nigeria say they are continuing investigations into the circumstances surrounding the presence of 20 mummified bodies in a house suspected of hosting a voodoo shrine in southern Nigeria’s Edo state.
A group which identifies itself as a civil society organisation has issued a statement in Benin City criticising the police for misleading the public.
The building where the mummified corpses were found was not a ritualists’ den but a newly built morgue to house evacuated corpses from an old facility, the group said.
Police spokesman Chidi Nwabuzor told the BBC that a police medical team was currently on the case.
He said that the man who owns the alleged shrine was on the run and that civil society groups were not medical doctors, who should determine whether mummified bodies kept in a suspected shrine house were actually in a mortuary.
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It is not immediately clear how long the bodies had been in the house but the police say armed officers and local vigilantes raided the building, about 3 miles (5km) from the city centre, after getting information of suspicious activities in the location.
Three suspects were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the discovery of the bodies, which included 15 male corpses, three female corpses and two children.
The report has shocked residents, with many in the area saying they were horrified at the discovery. Some are asking how the bodies could have been hidden away without neighbours noticing.
SOURCE: BBCNEWS
