The Edo State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of a 33-year-old man linked to the abduction and gruesome murder of a 53-year-old farmer, Henry Ohiengbonmwan.
According to a statement issued on Tuesday in Benin by the State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, CSP Moses Yamu, the victim was declared missing on May 13, with a formal report lodged four days later.
He was last seen tending to his farm in the Igueze community, located in the Ovia North East Local Government Area.
“On June 16, operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit used technical intelligence to track and arrest the suspect, a native of Oron Community in Akwa Ibom,” Yamu disclosed.
The suspect, during interrogation, reportedly admitted to collaborating with four others in a sinister plot to kidnap and murder Ohiengbonmwan, individuals who had previously been hired by the victim to work on his farm.
“Upon interrogation, the suspect confessed to conspiring with four others who had earlier been contracted by the deceased to work on his farm to kidnap, kill, and bury him in a shallow grave,” the spokesperson stated.
The suspect subsequently guided investigators to the crime scene, where the decomposed body of the victim was recovered after exhumation.
Yamu further assured the deceased’s family and the local community that a manhunt was underway to apprehend the remaining suspects who are currently at large.
He also relayed a cautionary message from the Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Monday Agbonika, urging employers, particularly farm and business owners, to be vigilant in screening individuals they intend to employ.
“He quoted the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Monday Agbonika, as urging business and farm owners to always carry out background checks on potential employees to avoid falling victim to such tragic incidents,” Yamu added.