Thereafter, he was taken to the Obiaruku Police Division where the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) sent them out, leading to the young's death in the anti-cult custody.
Operatives of the anti-cult unit of the Nigerian police in Obiaruku community in Ukwuani Local Government Area of Delta State have allegedly beaten a 17-year-old boy to death for allegedly being in possession of Tramadol.
SaharaReporters gathered that the incident happened on Wednesday when the security operatives arrested the young man whose name was not revealed and one other person while returning from a nearby pharmacy in the area.
A resident of Obiaruku who simply identified herself as Miss Vivian told SaharaReporters that the anti-cult operatives arrested the young men and demanded the sum of N200,000 each from them after finding some Tramadol capsules they bought from the pharmacy.
According to her, the deceased 17-year-old man had allegedly given the operatives N100,000 and promised to give the balance later but the security officers refused and pounced on two of them, during which the deceased was beaten to comma.
Thereafter, he was taken to the Obiaruku Police Division where the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) sent them out, leading to the young's death in the anti-cult custody.
She said the incident had generated chaos in the community as youths went on rampage, and burnt several houses belonging to members of anti-cult security in the area.
However, when contacted, the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Bright Edafe, told SaharaReporters that the young man was not beaten nor killed but died in the anti-cult custody as a result of some substance he took before he was arrested.
"He was not killed please. Though he died while in their custody, he was not beaten neither was he shot.
"It is suspected that he took some substance which led to his death before he was arrested, autopsy will eventually unravel the cause of death," the police spokesperson said.