Four suspected internet fraudsters, popularly known as ‘Yahoo Boys’ were on Friday confirmed dead after the intake of an overdose of strange illicit drug along the Nasco Egei Road of Biogbolo community of Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.
According to the Police, the incident, which happened at about 12am on Friday morning, occurred after the intake of two pills of the said drug, allegedly in celebration of a financial breakthrough by the deceased.
They died in an apartment rented by one of them known as Favour.
One Melvin, who claimed to be a friend to one of the deceased boys, told journalists that they were trying to secure the release of the corpse of one of the victims, Favour, 19 year-old and an indigene of Southern Ijaw local government area of the State.
He, however, said: “We believe that they were poisoned,” but he could not explain who and how they were poisoned.
According to Melvin, “We are here at Ekeki Police Station in company of Favour’s father to secure the release of his corpse for burial. But it is proving difficult after swearing to an Affidavit. We gathered that they eat a food they ordered which was delivered by a logistics motorbike and they died. One of them who was in the toilet, however, survived because he did not eat from the meal.”
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 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 attributed the death 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 CP said.
The Police Commissioner, however, assured journalists that if the friends and families of the deceased insisted that the four boys were poisoned, the Police will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of their death.
