Civil defence nabs two for possessing unidentified corpse

The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps said in Aba, Abia State on Thursday that it arrested two men in possession of an unidentified corpse of a little girl concealed in a bag.
The Abia Commander of the corps, Andy Dateer, told newsmen the corpse was bearing an infusion pipe.
Dateer said that the suspects were arrested while attempting to dump the corpse in a burrow pit at Enyimba on the Aba end of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.
He explained that the suspects claimed that the corpse was handed over to them by the supposed father of the baby after she died in a private hospital at Umule.
According to him, the security operatives later led the suspects to the hospital where a nurse on duty initially denied that the baby died in the place, but later admitted.
Dateer said that the nurse offered N20,000 to the NSCDC personnel to allow the suspects to bury the baby, but they turned down the offer and later arrested the suspects.
“Our men rejected the money and offered to escort the suspects to bury the corpse, but on their way they arrested the suspects and took them to the Aba Area Command of the corps,” he said.
The first suspect, Jonathan Nwogu, 42, who claimed to work at the burrow pit, said that the corpse was handed over to him by the father of the deceased for burial.
Nwogu said that the man, who was still at large, paid him N2,000 for the job.
He said that he followed the man to the hospital where they took the baby and drove back to the burrow pit in the man’s car.
“As soon as we arrived at the burrow pit, the man handed the corpse to me and drove away,” he said.
Nwogu, who looked abnormal, said that he was immediately accosted by a crowd of people in the area who inquired to know the content of the bag.
He said that the crowd started beating him, adding that the second accused was merely urged by the crowd to assist him to carry the corpse to the burrow pit.
Narrating his experience, the second suspect, who identified himself as Chubuike Anubuife, denied knowing anything about the corpse.
Anubuife, who claimed to be a businessman in Aba, said that he was arrested by men of NSCDC as soon as he obliged to assist the first suspect to carry the bag for burial.
“As soon as I helped the man to carry the baby, a man in the NSCDC uniform, who drove to the place on a bike, held me on my trousers and said that I am under arrest,” he said.
The commander said that the suspects would be handed over to the police for further investigation and prosecution, while the corpse would be deposited in a mortuary.