….. Recover Bodies Of Two Murdered Victims
The Delta State Police Command has arrested a 20-year-old herbalist, Amechi Okwuokenye, and his stepbrother, Smart Okwuokenye, aged 26, for the gruesome murder of two victims, one of whom was a long-time client of the herbalist, after an intelligence-led investigation uncovered their crimes.
According to a statement by the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Bright Edafe, the incident began on 30th September 2025, when a 22-year-old man, *Mr. Friday Liberty*, visited the herbalist at Owa-Alidima, Ika North East Local Government Area, and never returned home.
Worried by his sudden disappearance, the victim’s family began searching for him. A breakthrough came when his girlfriend revealed she had overheard a conversation linking Liberty’s disappearance to the herbalist. The family contacted the herbalist, who denied seeing him but offered to perform spiritual rituals to “bring him back.”
After spending money on these fruitless rituals, the family petitioned the Agbor Area Command on 14th October 2025. Detectives immediately launched an investigation, which revealed that the last person seen with the victim was indeed the herbalist. Surveillance was mounted around the suspect’s shrine for several days until he was arrested on 23rd October 2025, hiding inside a refrigerator within his shrine.
Upon interrogation, the herbalist confessed that he and his stepbrother had kidnapped both Liberty and the commercial motorcycle rider, Isioma Ugbeje, who had conveyed him to the shrine. They demanded a ransom of ₦10 million but later murdered the two victims when their plan failed. The suspects dumped their bodies in a soakaway pit near the shrine.
Police operatives have since recovered the decomposing bodies, which have been deposited at the mortuary for autopsy, while the suspects remain in custody as investigations continue.
The Commissioner of Police, Delta State Command, CP Olufemi Abaniwonda, assured the public that justice would be served and commended the detectives for their diligence in unravelling the case.
