Unidentified gunmen on Friday hijacked a corpse at Ahoada in Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State and demanded a ransom of N1m before it releasing it.

Eye witness account had it that the corpse, which was being conveyed home for burial by church members, was hijacked along Ahoada road by bandits, after ordering the driver of the ambulance conveying the corpse to stop.

The witness said the bandits pulled the corpse from the ambulance and fled with it inside the bush while the driver of the ambulance was asked to go. He said that the news of the tragic drama got to the children of the late woman, which made one of them to visit the scene, saying that the deceased’s son never returned home alive.

He said that soon after the son of the deceased got to the scene to demand the release of his mother’s corpse, the armed men shot him dead and dragged his lifeless body into the bush. He said that someone from the community intervened before the corpse was released to the church.

“The family had hired an ambulance with which it was conveying the remains of the woman home for burial. On the way, this group of armed men, decked in flowing white robe but armed with AK-47 rifles, waylaid the ambulance, took the casket hostage, demanding for N1,000,000 from the bereaved’s family for its release.

“They ordered the ambulance driver to “vanish” with his vehicle, and the man gladly fled the scene,” the witness said. He said that soon after the corpse was released and sermon for the burial commenced at the community church, the congregation were informed of impending cultists’ attack which made the entire congregation to fled and abandoned the corpse.

When contacted, Rivers State Police Command’s Public Relation Officer, Nnamdi Omoni said he was not aware of the incident. He said he would contact the DPO of Ahoada Police Division to get information about the incident.

•Sourced from Daily Trust report

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