For the 52-year-old Dauda Bello, his insatiable lust for money not minding whose horse is gored has landed him in big trouble.
The Ogun State Police Command arrested Bello for allegedly killing his 71-year-old accomplice in the business of child trafficking.
An investigation conducted by the Police revealed that the alleged murderer invited the deceased,
Mrs Mesesi Adisa, to his residence on 8th June 2022 for a discussion on their illegal business and, sensing that the deceased was carrying a large sum of money with her, he decided to kill her and convert the money to his.
The Command in a statement by its Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the suspect hit the woman with a big wooden stick on the head, the effect of which threw the woman into a state of unconsciousness.
He was said to have lifted the woman in her state of unconsciousness into the bush and snuffed life out of her, paving the way for him to conduct an unhindered search on her for the money.
He was, however, disappointed to discover a paltry N22,000 from the lifeless body and took to severing the two wrists and ankles, which he claimed to have sold to someone currently at large.
Meanwhile, the deceased relations reported a case of a missing person at the Sabo/Ilupeju Police Division in Abeokuta, from where it was transferred, on the instruction of the state Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, to the Anti-kidnapping Section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID).
According to the PPRO, the SP Taiwo Opadiran-led detectives embarked on a technical and Intelligence-based Investigation that unravelled the victim’s last place of visit and tracked down the suspect at his Olodo residence in Imala.
In his confession, Dauda owned up to committing the crime, stating that his murderous act was propelled by covetousness to dispossess the victim of the money on her, regretting that he only found N22,000 on her.
The suspect further revealed that they were both into child trafficking.
“The suspect has taken the Police to the bush where he buried the victim in a shallow grave, and the dismembered body has been recovered and deposited in the mortuary”, Oyeyemi said.
The CP commended the team for a job well done and ordered that the case be charged to court as soon as the investigation was concluded, even as he directed that anyone found to be directly or indirectly involved in the case should be brought to book.