Teen Kills Girlfriend, Burns Her Head For Money Ritual: Police

Three young men were arrested and a fourth was wanted by police in Nigeria after the group was caught burning the head of a girl said to be in a relationship with one of them for a money ritual.

The incident occurred in the Oke Aregba area of Abeokuta, Ogun State, Saturday, according to a statement from Ogun State Police Command spokesperson Abimbola Oyeyemi, obtained by Sahara Reporters.

Oyeyemi said the victim, identified as Rofiat, was a resident of Idi-Ape and was the girlfriend of one of the assailants, Soliu, who absconded. The ages of Rofiat and Soliu were not indicated in reports.

Soliu's three accomplices, 17-year-old Wariz Oladehinde, 19-year-old Abdul Gafar Lukman and 20-year-old Mustakeem Balogun were apprehended in the early hours of Saturday by officers with the Ogun State Police Command for killing the victim for a money-making ritual, the spokesperson said.

The arrest came after the Adatan divisional headquarters was informed by the head of the community security guard that the suspects were seen burning something suspected to be a human head in a local pot.

"Upon the information, the DPO Adatan Division, SP Abiodun Salau, quickly led his detectives to the scene, where the three suspects were arrested, while the fourth one who happened to be the boyfriend of the murdered girl escaped," the spokesperson said.

During an interview with police, the arrested suspects admitted that what they were burning in the local pot was the head of the girlfriend of their escaped accomplice.

The three suspects further confessed that the victim was lured by her boyfriend to where she was murdered by the four of them. They said they cut off her head, packed the remains in a sack and dumped it in an old building, according to Oyeyemi.

The three arrested suspects led police officers to the building, where the dismembered body was recovered and brought to a general hospital mortuary for autopsy. The short cutlass and a knife used in cutting off the victim's head were also recovered.

“We wanted to use just her head alone for money rituals. Soliu strangled her and he told me to assist him and we cut off her head,” Balogun was quoted as saying by the Daily Trust.

The victim’s boyfriend remains at large. Police Commissioner Lanre Bankole, who described the actions of the suspects as the height of callousness, ordered a manhunt for the boyfriend, the spokesperson said.

“The CP also ordered the immediate transfer of the suspects to the homicide section of the state criminal investigation and intelligence department for discreet investigation with the view to arraign them in court as soon as possible,” the statement said.