Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Bayelsa State Police Command has confirmed the death of four suspected internet fraudsters popularly known as Yahoo Yahoo boys after ingesting an overdose of illicit drugs.
The incident was said to have happened at a residence along the Nasco Egei road, off Isaac Boro Expressway of Biogbolo Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital.
According to investigation, four of the boys were said to have visited one Favour who is believed to be the tenant in the compound on Friday to celebrate a ‘major jackpot’.
In the process of celebration they were said to have ingested two pills each and four of them died, while one of them who was said to took just a pill was lucky as he was found vomiting.
At the identified residence, a middle-aged woman, believed to be the landlady but who declined to give her name confirmed that the incident happened and said the Police have one of the boys who has shed light on what happened.
One Melvin, who claimed to be a friend to one of the deceased boys, in a interview outside Ekeki Police Station claimed that the boys were poisoned.
“We are here because of one of our friends that died. His name is Favour aka Yazz and he is aged 19 from Southern Ijaw Local Government Area. He came with other friends to visit another friend whose name is also Favour. We were staying together at Edepie. We are trying to secure the release of his body. The Police told us to get an affidavit and we are in the process of doing that. We believed they were poisoned because one of them who did not eat the food bought from a food vendor did not die.”
Another friend of the deceased boys, who pleaded anonymity, claimed that “the deceased were much awake when we forced the security man to open the gate to their residence. Nelson (one of the deceased) was sitting on the chair but his head was on the ground with his vomit. Richie (another deceased) has his computer tab on in his hand and Yazz showed he was struggling. It clearly showed that they were poisoned.”
They also dismissed the claim that their friends died from the purported inhaling of generator fume.
Contacted on the development, the State Commissioner of Police, Benjamin Okolo, confirmed the death of the four youths and linked it to drug overdose.
“They died of drug overdose. It is quiet unfortunate that they administered the drug themselves. They were five and the one that survived told us that they took two pills each and that he took one. This was why they died.”
The Police Commissioner however assured newsmen that if the friends and family of the deceased insisted that the four boys were poisoned, the police will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.”