8 Sakawa Boys Nabbed For Murder

Eight persons suspected to be 'sakawa' (internet fraud) boys have been arrested by the Nsawam police for allegedly murdering a seven-year-old boy, Michael Kwaku Ofosu.

After purportedly killing the kid, the suspects were said to have dismembered certain parts of his body and taken the parts to Dokrokyewa, a village in the Ayensuano District of the Eastern Region, for rituals that would make them rich.

The suspects are Abdul Aziz, 23, unemployed; Michael Asare, 28, farmer; Ibrahim Amidu, 25, farmer; Kwabena Gadu, 26, farmer; Abdul Karim Wudu, 23, a driver's mate and Evans Sarfo, 28, a labourer. They are being held by the police as investigations into the murder continue.

Two other suspects—Tetteh Nathan, 28, herbalist and Oko Tetteh, 36, a businessman—have been granted bail by the police.

According to the Nsawam District Police Commander, Superintendent Kwasi Kankam Boadu, the deceased's grandmother, Maame Victoria Addey, reported last Friday that her grandson had not been seen for a week, following which the police began a search for him.

Last Saturday, the police officer said one of the suspects assisting them in their investigations came to the station to report that a dead body had been dumped on his farm.

When the police reached the farm, he claimed, they found the body but with the tongue and some parts severed.

While leading the police to the farm where the body was discovered, Supt Kankam Boadu said, Michael Asare told the officers that he suspected certain persons as being those behind the murder and proceeded to mention the names of those who were eventually arrested.

Bread Bait
Narrating further, the Nsawam police chief said a class mate of the murdered boy, a 10-year-old (name withheld), told the woman who reported the case to the police that one of the suspects, Abdul Aziz, called the seven-year-old boy to come for a loaf of bread when he and his friends were walking close to the venue of a function in the Zongo community in the town.

Continuing, the boy said the suspect warned him not to tell anybody about the whereabouts of the deceased.

The boy, scared about the consequence of reporting what had happened, only reported the matter after hearing about the murder, the police said.

Suspect Abdul Aziz was arrested when some youth in the area, upon the information from the deceased's grandmother, mounted a search for him and handed him over to the police.

Confession
The police officer said Abdul Aziz told the police he indeed invited the little boy for a loaf of bread and that he and others kidnapped him and eventually murdered him.

He had, however, not told the police what he was going to do with the parts that they had severed.

As at press time yesterday, a pathologist from Accra was due to conduct autopsy on the body before it would be released to the family for burial.

The suspects have been charged for murder and are due to appear before court today to face the law.

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From Daniel Bampoe, Nsawam