The scary thing about ritual gang

The word Badoo once conjured images of a dating and flirting online platform around here.

Not anymore.

These days, Badoo means death by bricks, machetes, cudgels or mortars in your sleep.

Welcome to hell.

Scratch that. Welcome to Ikorodu in Lagos.

Badoo is a ritualist gang whose members are trained to sniff human blood in the dead of the night.

In the hunt for blood, skulls are smashed, body parts are extricated, limbs are broken and eyes are gorged--to be sold.

Sorry if that sounded graphic. There was no other way to convey the gruesomeness that is Badoo's modus operandi.

From Ibeshe to Bayeku, Ipakodo and Odongunyan, Badoo gang members have left sorrow, tears and blood in their wake.

"Their modus operandi includes storming victims' residences while they are asleep", the Vanguard writes. "It is suspected that they usually hypnotize their victims, as none of them, except during last week's operation at Odongunyan, had ever been conscious of their presence.

"They would thereafter smash victims' heads with a grinding stone and use a handkerchief to clean the blood and brain before leaving the scene..."

Reports say Badoo has claimed more than one hundred lives since 2016.

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Last Sunday, residents of Ikorodu took the laws into their hands. They waylaid suspected Badoo members on the streets and set fire on them.

The police have been spitting fire and smoke as well. While warning citizens against jungle justice, police personnel working in cahoots with vigilante groups, raided suspected Badoo hideouts and arrested some 100 suspected members of the gang.

But some residents in Ikorodu aren't impressed with police efforts concerning Badoo.

"The statement by the police that they have arrested Badoo members is a pure lie", one resident of Ikorodu told Pulse on condition of anonymity. "Where did they comb? Which black spot did they raid? I live in Ikorodu, Ibeshe to be precise. They just came to the area and started arresting anyone in sight.

"Would the Badoo members be walking around waiting to be arrested? A friend of mine sent his younger brother to withdraw some money at a nearby ATM and the poor boy was arrested.

"When my friend went to the station, he was told to pay N50,000 to bail the boy. Where have the police been for one year now that the Badoo gang has been killing people at will? Is it now that they realize that the gang exists?"

Badoo presents yet another tricky scenario for law enforcement--they are damned if they make arrests and damned if they don't.

However, police have to be careful not to rein in innocents in these sweeping arrests. Real Badoo members should be meted with same punishment dished out to victims, if found guilty.

In the larger scheme of things, security operatives have to be a lot more proactive in order to prevent murderous gangs like Badoo from taking root in our society. Citizens should also report suspected Badoo gang members to the relevant authorities.

There's a thriving market out there for the sale of body parts of humans Badoo has murdered. We've got to find out who these buyers are and arrest them as well. We've got to clean out the entire value chain that makes a living off the buying and selling of human parts.

To deal with barbaric Badoo and the likes, we've all got our work cut out for us.