Gruesome Discovery in Border Community
Residents of Garam, a Niger State community bordering the Federal Capital Territory, made a horrifying discovery on November 22, 2025, when they found five decomposing human bodies in a bush near their community. The grim finding has sent shockwaves through the area and prompted an immediate police investigation.
The bodies were located near a farm situated along the Bwari/Abuja-Kaduna bye-pass road through the Kagarko area. According to local accounts, each victim had their face tied and showed multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and other body parts, along with machete cuts.
Community Response and Mass Burial
Tanko Dikko, the secretary of the youths in the community, revealed to Daily Trust on Sunday, November 23, that the discovery was made when an elder from the community visited his beans farm and detected an offensive odor coming from nearby bushes.
Dikko, who participated in the mass burial of the victims, stated that community leaders immediately notified authorities from the Tafa Local Government Area following the discovery. Officials from the social welfare unit of the council visited the scene before the bodies were laid to rest in a mass grave.
"When the report came to the notice of the village and the district heads of the community, the police were contacted," Dikko explained. "They came with officials of the Welfare Unit of the Tafa Local Government Area and, together with the community leaders, the bodies were mass buried in a grave."
The community representative added that all the deceased were dressed in Western-style clothing, with some wearing only singlets. During the burial process, a flat Android phone was discovered on one of the bodies, which was subsequently taken by the police for investigation.
Eyewitness Accounts and Previous Incidents
Another resident from a nearby community, Isah Sumaila, provided crucial information about suspicious activities that occurred earlier on Tuesday night. He reported that locals had observed two vehicles in the area, with one vehicle carrying several people.
"At a point close to the first police checkpoint along the Bwari-Jere road, the vehicles branched into a nearby bush and a few minutes after, they started hearing gunshots," Sumaila recounted. "After the gunshot, the vehicles came out and moved back towards Bwari, but we really don't know who they were."
Sumaila noted that it was three days later when a farmer from the Garam community stumbled upon the five corpses and rushed to inform community leaders. He also revealed disturbing historical context, mentioning that there were previous allegations that security operatives from the FCT often brought arrested suspected bandits to execute around the area sometime last year.
"But honestly, it has been a long that we heard such a story now, and we don't know what actually happened that Tuesday night," he added.
Police Confirmation and Ongoing Investigation
The spokesperson of the Niger State Police Command, SP Wasiu Abiodun, officially confirmed the incident on Sunday and announced that an investigation has been launched into the discovery of the five decomposed human bodies.
"On November 22, 2025, at 10 am, information received from Garam village via Tafa indicated that five decomposed bodies were found in a farm located along the Bwari/Abuja-Kaduna bye-pass road, through the Kagarko area," the Police Public Relations Officer stated.
Police operatives attached to Tafa Division responded to the scene and confirmed finding five male decomposed bodies with blindfolds, suspected to have been dumped in the area by unknown persons. The official police statement noted that "the bodies were observed with gunshot wounds on their chests and machete cuts."
The bodies were evacuated with assistance from the Tafa local government social welfare unit. A police source confirmed that the investigation is progressing with the aid of the mobile phone recovered from one of the victims. The case is being treated as suspected culpable homicide, and authorities are working to identify and apprehend the perpetrators.
