Corpses of two kids have been found in a pit said to be half filled with water in Gure community, in the Baruten Local Government Area of Kwara State.
It was learnt that the pit was far from the homes of the kids’ respective parents.
Our correspondent gathered on Thursday that the victims – a boy, Ibrahim Bernand, who was said to be crawling, and a girl, Aisha Micheal, a toddler – were found dead in the pit a day after they were declared missing.
PUNCH Metro gathered that immediately the children got missing, community members organised search parties and combed the area in search of them.
A source said, “The children got missing from different locations. One of the victims got missing at home, while the other got missing at a market.
“The fact that the children were found dead in the same pit has raised suspicion as to the actual cause of the children’s demise.
“The parents of the two children are living in Gure. The parents of one of the deceased children are Nigerians, while the parents of the other child are foreigners.”
Another community member, who declined to be identified, said the residents suspected that the children were killed for ritual purposes.
“Ritual killing is common here; that is why we believe that there is more to the deaths than meets the eye,” he said.
The Kwara State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Ajayi Okasanmi, confirmed the incident.
He said, “The remains of the kids were recovered from the pit without any mark of violence on them.We are still investigating how the kids got missing and died.”