A 33-year-old transporter, Destiny Ehikwe, has been murdered by suspected thieves in Illah, Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State.
The deceased, who left behind his wife and seven-month-old baby, was said to be plying the Asaba-Agbor-Benin route with his Sienna space wagon, and was contracted by a man in his 20s to convey some items for him.
A member of the deceased’s family, one Mr Okonta, told WE4WE REPORTS that Destiny was contracted on Wednesday, September 11, 2019, to convey the items from Issele-Uku to Ubolue.
He said, “On Wednesday, somebody contracted my brother to convey some items for him and Destiny charged him N10,000, but the man paid N1,000 and promised to pay the balance at the end of the trip. But my brother could not meet up with the schedule that day, so the man continued calling him. He eventually made the trip on Thursday, but did not return.
“So, on Friday, his wife alerted us and we tracked his phone and found out that it was in Illah; we reported the case at the Illah Police Division and policemen later called us that his vehicle was recovered and we went there and saw that the vehicle belongs to Destiny.
“The police tracked the number that the man used to call my brother to an old woman and from there, the police laid an ambush where the vehicle was discovered and later arrested some persons, who led the police to where Destiny’s decomposing body was found on Monday, September 16, in an abandoned soakaway pit. Some parts of his body were missing; we suspect foul play.”
Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Onome Onovwakpoyeya, said four suspects had been arrested in connection with the killing of Destiny.
The PPRO stated, “Destiny was lured to the Illah community in order to steal his vehicle. The assailants shot him and left the vehicle in the bush, while perfecting plans to take the vehicle out of the community. We recovered the deceased’s phone from the killers.
“The body was discovered in a soakaway pit and the suspects are all in their mid 20s. Investigation is ongoing to recover the arms used to shoot the deceased. For now, I cannot say the suspects are ritualists, but we discovered that they had the intention of stealing the vehicle; the deceased’s corpse has been deposited in the mortuary.”