World Bulletin / News Desk

Nigerian authorities have launched an investigation following the discovery of a forest and cave in the southwestern town of Ibadan in which more than 20 decomposing human bodies were found, along with ten people chained to slaughtering slabs.

"Our men have taken over the entire forest for an immediate probe into the horrific discovery," Police Commissioner Mohamed Indabawa told Anadolu Agency by phone late Tuesday.

"Arrests have been made, including five policemen and security guards nearby, because the public is interested in the matter," Indabawa added.

The discovery was made late Sunday night after some young men overheard a man crying for help inside the Soka forest, located along the busy Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

"We have cordoned off the entire area with armored personnel carriers and men have been deployed," Indabawa said.

"Several decomposing human bodies, butchered human parts, and at least ten people found in inhuman conditions were found in uncompleted buildings located in the forest," he asserted.

"There is also a cave suspected of harboring criminals," the police commissioner added.

He said a team of forensic experts had been deployed to the forest.

"I can assure you, we'll go to the roots of this," he pledged.

Emaciated

Indabawa said the victims rescued – all terribly emaciated – had been taken to hospital.

One of them, a woman, had since died, medical sources told AA.

Others were said to have regained conscious following what one of them described as "inhuman treatment and once-a-week feeding" in the forest.

Some remain in a catatonic state – a condition psychiatrist Olabiyi Rahman blamed on the trauma they had suffered.

Nafiu Shittu, a male victim who was rescued, said he had been kidnapped four months ago from Ibadan, provincial capital of Nigeria's Oyo State.

He said he had been sitting down after a hard day at work when he was forced into a car by two men.

"That's all I can remember," Shittu told AA by phone from Ibadan's Yemetu Hospital. "When I regained consciousness, I was in a room in the forest, chained to a wall."

"I was too tired to struggle; as the days passed I became frail because I wasn't given anything to eat," he added.

Crowds that had gathered in the forest before police cordoned off the area spoke of signs of rape, torture and murder.

They also spoke of chains, charms and a slab, the latter of which appeared to be where victims were killed and mutilated.

Other items found at the scene included wallets, clothing, travel bags, footwear, drivers' licenses and passport photographs.

The grisly find comes only weeks after police nabbed a middle-aged man in the southwestern Ogun State in possession of 18 human skulls.