Troops recover corpse of missing 16-year-old herder in Plateau
Troops of Operation Safe Haven, a security task force maintaining peace in Plateau State, on Friday, recovered the body of a missing 16-year-old herder and retrieved more than 50 of the rustled cattle. Daily Trust reports that the troops recovered the body of the missing herder together with other Fulani herders. Abdullahi Muhammad, 16, had […]
Troops of Operation Safe Haven, a security task force maintaining peace in Plateau State, on Friday, recovered the body of a missing 16-year-old herder and retrieved more than 50 of the rustled cattle.
Daily Trust reports that the troops recovered the body of the missing herder together with other Fulani herders.
Abdullahi Muhammad, 16, had gone missing, and over 70 cattle were reportedly rustled in Ariri community, Bassa LGA, while he was grazing cattle in the area.
However, Danjuma Auta, Secretary General of Irigwe Development Association (IDA), had earlier denied cattle rustling in the area, alleging that several of their members had been killed in the past three weeks and had been facing attacks.
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According to Ya’u Idris, MACBAN chairman in Bassa, who confirmed the recovery of the missing herder’s body, the corpse was recovered in a shallow grave by OPSH troops at a riverside around the Ariri general area.
He said the herder’s head had been beheaded, and his left hand was cut off.
The chairman said, “We have exhumed the body and taken it back home for funeral prayer. More than 80% of the cattle were rescued. We thank the security forces, especially the personnel of OPSH, for their efforts towards the recovery of the body and the cattle.”
Spokespersons of Operation Safe Haven, Major Samson Zhakom, and the state police command, DSP Alabo Alfred, were yet to respond to text messages from our correspondent on the matter.