ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) - A 13-year-old Nigerian girl was charged Friday with killing a 2-year-old boy and selling his body parts to be used for witchcraft. Police said she claimed to have taken part in the ritual murders of 47 others.
Police arrested the girl, Jummai Hassan, in the northeastern city of Maiduguri last week. Authorities exhumed the body of the toddler, identified only by his first name, Ibro, national police spokesman Haz Iwendi said.
While in custody, Hassan confessed to membership in a secret cult that she claimed trades in human organs for use in juju, or voodoo rituals, Iwendi said.
All 48 killings allegedly had taken place over the past seven years since the girl was said to have been initiated into the cult.
The girl fingered a civil servant, Michael Ashade Akinona, as also being involved in the murders, Iwendi said.
Police subsequently arrested him, finding black pots, powders and other paraphernalia in his home believed to be linked to occultism and other esoteric activities, Iwendi said.
Borno state police commissioner Bala Ringim said Hassan had a history of offenses, including burning down her neighbor's house and attempting to kill another teen-age girl.
Hassan appeared briefly in court Friday in connection with the boy's killing. She offered to direct police to the graves of several other victims, but so far the search has not turned up any more bodies, Iwendi said.
Despite her age, the girl could be sentenced to life in prison or execution if convicted.
Police were conducting an autopsy on the toddler's body and were also investigating the girl's claim that a church in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, was a regular recipient of victims' organs, including hearts and eyes, Ringim said.
Unless we get new information, we don't know how far we can take this case, the Borno police commissioner said.
Ritual killings are relatively common in parts of Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, where some believe witchcraft medicine made with human remains have magical properties.
AP-NY-07-27-01 1217EDT
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.