* Kidnapped family members still in captivity
The people of Ameze Owerre, Umabor community in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State have recovered a decomposing abducted corpse of a kinsman, Mr Ugwuanyi Israel, who died in Lagos.
Ugwuanyi’s corpse was Sunday evening abducted by gunmen, who also kidnapped all family members and the driver conveying his corpse from Lagos to Nsukka, where funeral arrangements were being planned.
The incident, happened along 9th Mile Road in Umuoka community in Udi Local Government Area last Sunday.
Recall that the remains of Ugwuanyi, who died in Lagos was being conveyed home by family members when kidnappers swooped on them and demanded N50 million ransom from the family.
However, two days after the abduction, Ugwuanyi’s corpse was recovered from a forest near 9th Mile Corner, in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State.
It was further gathered that troops combing the forest, had seen the corpse Tuesday morning and took it to a nearby police station for onward deposit to the morgue, but were turned back by the police.
A family member, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, told our correspondent, that one of the soldiers had seen the phone of one of the kidnapped victims, named Sunday, and called a number on the contact list.
“We were running about seeking help on how to get the corpse and our other brothers released from captivity when the number called.
“It turned out to be a soldier and he told us how they found the corpse. He told us to come to the police station at 9th Mile where they would hand over the corps to be deposited to the morgue.
“But as we headed to Enugu to meet them, the army man called again that the police rejected the corpse. We pleaded with them to help us deposit it to any nearby mortuary so that we will meet them there”, the source said.
He disclosed that because of the decomposing nature of the corpse, the family and community had to bury him immediately.
On the other members of the family and the driver abducted alongside the corpse, the source said the family and the community had not been able to raise the money being demanded by the kidnappers to free them.
“You know how the situation is in the country now. The family and our people in Lagos spent so much during Israel’s sickness and we were just waiting for the corpse to arrive so that it would be buried when this happened”, he said.