Bodies of policemen killed negotiating bribe, found

The bodies of a police sergeant and a corporal, killed and carted away by suspected oil vandals at the Ikorodu area of Lagos State, have been found floating on the river.

The policemen, corporal Wale Oduade and Sergeant Akin, attached to Owutu Police Station, were killed on May 2, and their corpses were discovered floating on the water three days later. They were however said to have become bloated.

Their colleagues were able to identify them and alerted their Divisional Police Officer (DPO).

According to a police source, the two men were on duty, when they got information that suspected pipeline vandals, had loaded trucks of fuel and were about to leave the site.

The source said: “Wale has been serving in that station for years. The sergeant was just new there. It was Wale who led the way to Ishawo road. It was at that Ishawo road they met and flagged down the truck driver. They were still negotiating with the driver, when a Sienna car drove close to the truck and opened fire on the policemen.

“The policemen went with only one rifle. The vandals went away with their corpses and the rifle. Their corpses were found floating on the canal three days later.”

The deceased policemen were said to have embarked on the illegal operation around 12am on that fateful day.
According to a source, the incident occurred about 30 minutes after some soldiers patrolled the area and left.
The source said the gunshot from the vandals woke sleeping residents.

The source added: “It happened around 12am. The vandals killed the two policemen and took their bodies away. Policemen later came and they saw blood on the ground."
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) had earlier said that she wasn’t aware of such an incident.

Ishawo, where the men were killed, was the same area where several operatives of Department of State Security, officials of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corpse and policemen were killed last year and their corpses carted away.