In a chilling case that has sent shockwaves through Akwa Ibom State, police have arrested a cemetery manager and a grave digger for allegedly digging up a freshly buried corpse—just to steal the coffin and sell it for profit.
The macabre scheme was uncovered on August 3, 2026, around 11:30 pm, when a vigilant security operative spotted two men hauling a casket on an unregistered motorcycle near the Mbiokporo Cemetery in Nsit-Ibom. Suspicious of the late-night activity, the officer confronted the duo—but one suspect, Effiong Asuquo, bolted into the darkness, leaving his accomplice, Nsikak Effiong, to face the music.
During police interrogation, Effiong confessed to the unthinkable: they had exhumed a body that had been buried just hours earlier, dumped the corpse, and made off with the coffin, hoping to turn it into quick cash.
The plot thickened days later when investigators arrested the cemetery manager, Elijah Matthew Edet, on August 5. Under questioning, Edet admitted he had conspired with the grave diggers, though he pleaded that it was his “first time” dabbling in such sacrilege.
Police have since recovered the empty casket and the motorcycle used in the heist. The state Commissioner of Police, Baba Azare, condemned the act as “barbaric and sacrilegious,” vowing a full-scale manhunt for the fugitive accomplice.
“Every person connected to this desecration will face the full wrath of the law,” Azare declared, while praising the vigilante whose courage stopped the suspects from vanishing with their ghastly loot.
Investigations are ongoing.
