The Umunneochi Local Government Area of Abia State has said that the reported discovery of 28 human skulls in two communities in the area is an old incident that occurred in August 2024, not September 2026.
According to the government, there has been no recent discovery of such a criminal hideout or human skulls.
The media team of the Local Government Chairman, Sunday Afurobi, was responding to a recent press release by the Abia State Police Command, which said it had discovered 28 human skulls and bones in two forests at Umuaku and Nneato, Umunneochi LGA.
He said, “The attention of the Umunneochi Local Government Administration has been drawn to a story currently circulating on social media within and outside Umunneochi, claiming that the police recently raided a kidnappers’ hideout ‘around Umuaku-Isuochi and Nneato and discovered 28 human skulls’, while the suspected perpetrators escaped without being apprehended.
“We wish to state clearly that the said site is an abandoned camp of suspected kidnappers situated at the boundary between Aku community in Okigwe LGA of Imo State and Nneato in Umunneochi LGA. It was uncovered around August 2024 by joint government security operatives working in synergy with our local vigilantes.
“Thus, the information is not a recent incident in Isuochi and should not be seen as such,” the council stated in an official response.
The Umunneochi LGA, which insisted that the council is presently safe and peaceful, explained that the latest viral video of the site was taken on September 26, 2026, during routine security operations at flashpoints around the fringes of the LGA by operatives of the Abia State Police Command, alongside the same active local vigilantes.”
“We urge residents of Isuochi and Umunneochi Local Government Area to remain calm and disregard the misleading impression that there has been a recent discovery of such a criminal hideout in Isuochi,” the Umunneochi LGA maintained.
Abia LGA faults police report on discovery of 28 human skulls in forests