Over 30 bodies of victims of suspected ritu@l k!llings have been found in the past year in the Imo River in the Oriendu autonomous community, Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State.

The traditional ruler of the community, HRH Eze Philip Ajomiwe, disclosed this to journalists in his palace after the body of another woman was found.

Eze Ajomiwe said: “The bodies, like the recent one, are either completely naked and without their private parts or in a bag. There have also been cases of two decomposing bodies seen beside the NNPC pipeline.

“The victims are mostly young girls. The ritualists from Imo usually come at night to dump the bodies of their victims inside the Imo River, and in the morning, we wake to see them.”

The monarch expressed concern that the situation was getting out of hand and had created fear in and around the community. He added that no arrests have been made yet.

He stated that efforts by the community’s vigilante group to arrest the suspects had failed, too, because the group was not as equipped as the suspects were said to be.

“So, we’re appealing to the state government to empower the vigilante group with the necessary logistics and the wherewithal to enable it to match the suspects,” he said.

He said that his complaints about the situation to security agents had been unsuccessful, noting that the latest was a letter to the Speaker of the State House of Assembly on February 7.

“We have reported even to the DSS, and they came here and held a meeting with us. We need the Government’s intervention to apprehend those behind this atrocity.”