Group Alleges Smuggling of Corpses into Anambra

A group, International Society for Civil Liberty and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), on Thursday, raised the alarm over recent smuggling of corpses from Kano and other parts of the North into Anambra State in body bags.

The group in a statement signed by its Board of Trustees Chairman, Mr. Emeka Umeagbalasi, said it has reports of some Igbo indigenes in the North who died recently of natural causes, and others of the COVID-19 pandemic, but expressed worry that corpses of the deceased persons were being transported back to Igbo land in body bags.

According to the statement, “From several independent sources, it is reliably confirmed that corpses of Igbo indigenes resident in the North, particularly in Kano State, are being smuggled into the South-eastern part of the country in body bags.

“The body bag haulage of the corpses is so syndicated that in most cases, the travelers, except the relatives of the corpses might not be aware that the long passenger vehicles with which they are traveling on are carrying bags of corpses.

“Properly sealed with anti-stench chemicals sprayed of them, their haulage arrangements are struck and sealed at loading points between the drivers of the long passenger vehicles (undertakers) and the deceased's relatives. To avoid open suspicion, not more than two-three corpses mixed with ware-billed goods are carried and conveyed per vehicle.”

He added that Igbo people have a long-standing culture of not burying their demised loved ones outside their ancestral root.

The group said its investigation has further revealed that some relatives pay as much as N100,000 for the bodies to be transported back to their villages, and that the bodies are loaded early enough before passengers begin to arrive for the journey to the Southeast.

It called on the security agencies at the border to sit up to avoid mass death as a result of what he called importation of COVID-19 into the state, as well as calling on the governors of the South-east states to intensify efforts to get the federal government to establish more testing centres in the states, as most persons may be living with the virus without knowing it.