The Delta State Police Command has arrested a 20-year-old herbalist, Amechi Okwuokenye, and his 26-year-old stepbrother, Smart Okwuokenye, for the murder of two victims, including one of the herbalist’s long-time clients, after a failed kidnap-for-ransom plot.
In a statement issued on Sunday, 26th October 2025, by the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Bright Edafe, the incident was said to have taken place in Owa-Alidima, Ika North East Local Government Area of Delta State.
Edafe explained that the case began when 22-year-old Mr Friday Liberty visited the herbalist on 30th September 2025 and never returned home.
“The family, after fruitless efforts to locate him, filed a petition at the Agbor Area Command on 14th October 2025,” he said.
Detectives immediately launched an intelligence-led investigation, which revealed that the last person Liberty contacted was the same herbalist, who initially denied knowledge of his whereabouts.
Acting on intelligence, operatives laid surveillance around the suspect’s shrine and arrested him on 23rd October 2025 while he was hiding inside a refrigerator.
During interrogation, the herbalist confessed that he and his stepbrother kidnapped Liberty and a motorcycle rider, identified as Isioma Ugbeje, who had conveyed Liberty to the shrine.
The suspects reportedly demanded a ransom of N10 million but later killed both victims when their plan failed.
“The herbalist admitted that Liberty was a regular client who often came for charms to hypnotise others into giving him money easily,” Edafe stated. “He also confessed that his brother suggested they kidnap one of his clients for ransom.”
The police confirmed that the decomposing bodies of the victims were recovered from a soakaway pit near the shrine and deposited at a mortuary for autopsy.
Delta State Commissioner of Police, CP Olufemi Abaniwonda, assured the public that justice would be served.
“The Command will ensure that this heinous act is thoroughly investigated and that the culprits face the full weight of the law,” he said.
The suspects remain in police custody as investigations continue.
