NIGERIAN SOLDIERS DETAIN 2 SUSPECTS OVER KILLING OF CATHOLIC PRIEST

Read Time:1 Minute, 8 Second

Two suspects have been taken into custody by members of the special military task group Operation Safe Haven, or OPSH, in relation to the murder of Rev. Fr. Sylvester Okechukwu, a Catholic priest.

This was stated in a statement released by OPSH Media Officer Major Samson Zhakom in Jos on Wednesday.

On March 4 at approximately 9:15 p.m., Okechukwu, a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan, Kaduna State, was kidnapped.

On March 5, the priest was discovered dead after being abducted from his home in Tachira, in the state’s Kaura Local Government Area.

Zhakom reports that the accused were taken into custody on Tuesday after a raid in the Warsa-Piti communal settlement in the state’s Lere LGA.

“The suspects were apprehended following a raid on the prime suspect’s hideout at a Ruga settlement in Warsa-Piti community, Lere LGA of Kaduna State.

“During preliminary investigations, the prime suspect, a 33-year-old man, confessed to being contracted by another individual who lived in the same house as the slain priest to kidnap him.

“In a follow-up operation, troops arrested the second suspect at Agwan Sarki, Tachira, in Kaura LGA. The suspects are currently in custody undergoing further interrogation,” he said.

Investigations are still on to find out where other people implicated in the horrible act are, the media officer stated.