'I buy fresh human head for N10,000, sell for N20,000'

Four suspects, in the custody of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, have given chilling account of how they used to source and sell human body parts. One of the suspects, paraded yesterday at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters in Ikeja, Mrs Sukuratu Salami, said that she used to buy each fresh human head for N10,000 and sell for N20,000.

According to the 53-year-old mother, human eye balls go for N5,000 and intestines are sold at N1,000. She confessed to have sold at least 10 heads. Salami, who sells herbs, said she decided to go into selling of human parts because there was high demand for heads by “native doctors”.

Other suspects are Rasheed Abimbola Tantoloun, Mohammed Yusuf and Waheed Ibrahim. Denying killing people, they said they always get the parts from a cemetery located at Joju area of Ota in Ado-Ado Local Government Area of Ogun State.
Tantoloun is the security guard of the cemetery; Ibrahim is the digger who used to dig out the human parts, while Yusuf is one of the native doctors who used to buy from Salami.
The Lagos State Commoney missioner of Police, Umar Manko, explained that the suspects were arrested after the command received a tipoff about their illicit trade and drafted SARS detectives to the area. He said: “We picked interest in this case because of the disappearance of people.
It is hopeful that with the arrest of these suspects, we will be able to get to the root of these disappearances. “Most of the parts recovered are fresh. It is criminal to deal in human parts. A few weeks ago, there was the discovery of Soka forest in Oyo State. Crime has no boundary.”
The commissioner also disclosed how the suspects were arrested. He said: “After intense monitoring of the faces behind the shameful act, on April 12, one of the SARS detectives posed as a prospective buyer and negotiated to buy one at the rate of N20,000.
“Immediately after the operative gained access to the abode of the seller, one Sukuratu Salami, confirmed the existence of human parts in her house, the Officer in Charge of SARS, Abba Kyarri, led decoy teams to storm the house and arrest Salami, followed by Tantoloun.
“A thorough search conducted in the house of Salami led to the discovery of human heads, intestines, liver, kidney, flesh and bones.” According to Salami, she sells herbs, but disturbances from native doctors, demanding for human heads, convinced her to go into the business.
She said: “Those who used to bring the heads to me, brings them from burial grounds. I buy for N10,000 and sell for N20,000. People used to ask for broken pieces of human head, I sell those ones for N200. Intestines are also not expensive, I sell those for N1,000.
When they bring the human parts fresh, we dry them if there was need. I have sold 10 heads.” Salami, whose eldest child is 30 years, said her husband, who works with one of the top media houses in Lagos, ran away and abandoned her after her arrest.
On his part, Tantaloun said on the day Ibrahim went to dig the head that got them into trouble, he was not on duty. He said: “My salary as a guard at the cemetery is N8,000, but my boss told me that I should be able to make Commoney from the cemetery. My boss knows that the cemetery is full.
He told me that we should dig and empty those with bodies that had decomposed. The woman who sells herb had earlier come to me, to tell me that I should be selling human parts to her.” On his own, the 26-year-old Ibrahim said Tantoloun introduced him to the business.
He said: “Tantoloun told me that they needed my assistance. When asked what kind of assistance they wanted me to render for them, Tantoloun told me that he wanted me to help them in digging graves at the cemetery. “Whenever I dug any grave and found fresh head, they would cut it off and pay N3,000.
That was how I have been doing it for about 15 years.” Also, the 46-year-old Yusuf, a herbalist in the same area where the herb woman operates, said he usually introduces ‘customers’ to the woman. He said: “As a herbalist, whenever I wanted to use some roots, I go to Madam Sukuratu Salami the herbs seller.
It was through this that I got to know that she sells human parts. “I have been serving as an intermediary whenever anybody wants to buy human parts and then I get my own share of the money.”