Court jails 5 for exhuming human skull

<p>The Minna Chief Magistrate Court Two has sentenced five persons caught with a human skull to a jail term of 12 years each in a correctional facility in the state.</p>, <p>The suspects were found guilty of three charges of criminal conspiracy, trespass on burial grounds, and unlawful possession of human skull.</p>, <p>The convicts included Ibrahim Jiya, Suleiman Usman, Abdullahi Usman, Idris Mohammed, and Isah Mohammed, all from Sakpe village in Edati Local Government Area of Niger State.</p>, <p>The police prosecutor, Inspector Mua’azu Abdullahi, told the court that the charges were punishable under sections 97, 213 and 219 of the Penal Code.</p>, <p>He explained that the convicts, nabbed by the police from the Bida Area Command Office, were caught with a Bagco bag containing human skull, dug from a Muslim cemetery in their community, and being taken to an herbalist in Minna for money ritual.</p>, <p>Abdullahi said after reporting the case to the police in Bida, it was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) for discrete investigation.</p>, <p>According to the charges the skull belonged to the late Yan Ndako Daniya, who died three years ago.</p>, <p>The convicts pleaded guilty to all the charges when the charges were read to them.</p>, <p>Delivering judgment, the presiding magistrate, Hajiya Fati Umar Hassan, sentenced each suspect to a 12-year jail term without the option of a fine.</p>