The Delta State Police Command has arrested a 20-year-old herbalist, Amechi Okwuokenye, and his stepbrother, Smart Okwuokenye, for allegedly abducting and brutally killing two young men in Owa-Alidima, Ika North East Local Government Area of Delta State.
The victims, identified as 22-year-old Friday Liberty and a commercial motorcyclist, Isioma Ugbeje, were reportedly murdered and their mutilated remains dumped inside a septic tank near the suspects’ shrine.
Police spokesperson, Bright Edafe, who confirmed the incident on Sunday, said the suspects shockingly demanded ransom from the victims’ families even after killing them, pretending the men were still alive.
According to Edafe, the herbalist was apprehended on October 23, 2025, after days of surveillance. “He was discovered hiding inside a refrigerator in his shrine at Owa-Alidima,” he said.
He added that the decomposing bodies of the victims were later exhumed from the septic tank, while their families are calling for justice.
Police investigations revealed that the late Friday Liberty had been a regular client of the suspect, frequently seeking his “spiritual help” for money-related rituals. However, his last visit to the shrine on September 30 turned deadly, as he never returned home.
When questioned, Amechi denied knowledge of the victim’s whereabouts and deceitfully offered to perform “spiritual incantations” to locate him, collecting money from the family in the process.
Frustrated by the fruitless search, the family petitioned the police at the Agbor Area Command on October 14, 2025. Detectives subsequently launched an intelligence-led operation that uncovered the gruesome killings.
Upon arrest, the herbalist reportedly confessed that he and his 26-year-old stepbrother lured Liberty and the motorcyclist to the shrine under the guise of conducting rituals, kidnapped them, and demanded ₦10 million as ransom. When the ransom failed, they murdered both victims, dismembered their bodies, and dumped them in a soakaway pit beside the shrine.
Edafe described the act as “barbaric and senseless,” assuring that the command would ensure justice is served.
The remains of the victims have been deposited at a mortuary for autopsy, while the suspects remain in police custody pending further investigation.
