The police have arrested a suspected mentally unstable man who allegedly killed and burnt an unidentified lady near an uncompleted building along Rumuekini end of the East-West Road, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.

It was gathered that after killing the woman, the man wanted to conceal his crime by setting fire to the victim but policemen who were alerted swooped on the suspect, arrested him and removed the corpse.

Residents of the area, who expressed shock over the development, said the decomposing corpse of the woman was discovered when the stench permeated the area.

A resident said, “When we came to work on Monday, there was a foul smell near an uncompleted building.

“So, we went there and saw the corpse of the lady. It is surprising that we are there, but don’t even know about it if not for the smell that makes us suspect that something had happened.”

The spokesman for the state police command, SP Nnamdi Omoni, confirmed the killing and the arrest.

“The body has been evacuated and deposited in the mortuary. Investigation is still ongoing to ascertain what really happened,” Omoni said.

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A 33-year-old man, Emmanuel Oshiotu, and his 25-year-old lover, Amaka Okafor, were on Thursday found dead in their one-room apartment in Uvwie community in the Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State.

The corpses of the lovers were sighted by neighbours in their apartment located at Ojigbo Crescent, Off Sapele-Effurun Road, Uvwie.

A neighbour of the deceased, who declined to be named, said, “Around 5am, we heard Emmanuel shouting for help and on breaking the door, found him vomiting white foam while his lover’s lifeless body lay a few distance from him.”

The cause of their death could not be ascertained by anyone as of the time of filing this report but witnesses said a can of insecticide and a knife were found besides their bodies.

The discovery made neighbours and the police suspect suicide.

It was further gathered that the suspected suicide theory was reinforced by one of the latest posts by Emmanuel on his Facebook page depicting someone facing frustration.

The neighbour said the lovers were rushed to the Central Hospital, Warri, where they were both confirmed dead on arrival and their bodies deposited in the morgue.

The Divisional Police Officer, CSP Muktari Bello, and his officers later inspected the bodies at the hospital.

The acting state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Edafe Bright, confirmed the incident.

The Punch

The police in Ebonyi State on Tuesday detained a woman believed to be a commercial sex worker for allegedly trying to sell her baby for N40,000.

The woman has been identified as Victoria Chukwube, 32.

The four-month-old boy was still breastfeeding.

The woman said she wanted to sell the child to raise money to start a business of selling drinks.

The police spokesperson in Ebonyi, Loveth Odah, while parading the suspect, said she was arrested following a tip off.

“So her name is Chukwube Victoria, she told us she is a commercial sex hawker and that she has this baby which she was carrying.

“She said if she leaves here she would continue to look out for prospective buyers.

“But we tried to talk to her and to make her see the value of being a mother, but she refused.

“She even told us that if we allow her to go home with the baby she will throw the baby away and that she can’t tell who got her pregnant,” Ms Odah, a deputy superintendent of police, said.

Ms Chukwube, during interrogation, refused to disclose her state of origin or local government. She said she did not have the financial ability to take care of the child.

“I am from Nigeria, 32 years old, a commercial sex hawker and my baby is just four months old.

“I want to sell the baby at the rate of N40,000 to start up a business. I have a fridge and I reside at Ogbe Hausa in Abakaliki,” she said.

Meanwhile, police in the state have arrested a suspected armed robber, Obinna Obike.

The suspect, according to the police, was part of a three-man armed gang which robbed a cargo bus along the Amasiri-Okigwe Highway.

The police spokesperson, Ms Odah, who confirmed the incident, said the suspect was arrested in Uwulangwu, Ohaozara Local Government Area with Nigerian Army camouflage.

“The operatives arrested the suspect, following a robbery incident which took place along Amasiri-Okigwe Expressway by Oso-edda in Afikpo South Local Government Area of the state on the 13 February 2021.

“The three-man gang, dressed on Nigerian military camouflage, accosted a bus driver, tied him down and robbed him of the said bus loaded with goods worth millions of naira. The hoodlums diverted the goods to an unknown destination,” Ms Odah said.

Following a report by the driver of the bus, police operatives trailed the suspected robbers to their hideout where the suspect was arrested, while two others escaped.

Ms Odah said the suspect has confessed to the crime and admitted that the camouflage belonged to their gang leader popularly known as “Iron” who is still at large.

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