Police in the Northern Region have opened a murder investigation following the deaths of three children whose bodies were discovered inside the boot of a vehicle in Tamale.
The children, identified as three-year-old Dauda Abdul Aziz, five-year-old Saani Alsharaf and seven-year-old Dauda Fadilan, were found in a black Hyundai Tucson at the Koblimahagu Zoo in the Tamale Metropolis on Monday, October 5.
The three children had reportedly left their homes on Sunday to attend Islamic classes but did not return.
Preliminary findings from an autopsy indicate that the children did not die from natural causes, prompting investigators to treat the case as a possible murder.
“The autopsy revealed they did not die a natural death,” a source familiar with the investigation said.
The source added that further toxicological analysis is required to determine the circumstances and possible cause of the deaths.
The bodies were discovered in the boot of the Hyundai Tucson, which bears registration number AS 1770-14.
Police said the vehicle was found stuck in mud, with its driver’s door and rear passenger door open. The boot and other doors were, however, locked.
The owner of the vehicle, a member of the Ghana Immigration Service, has been arrested and taken to Accra to assist with the investigation.
He reportedly told police that the vehicle had been stuck at the location for about five days.
Following the discovery, the Inspector-General of Police deployed forensic and crime scene experts to Tamale to support the Northern Regional Police Command.
Homicide investigators and intelligence officers have also been assigned to the case as police work to determine how the children ended up inside the vehicle and what led to their deaths.
The vehicle has since been secured for forensic examination, with investigators expected to examine it and other evidence gathered from the scene.
Although the preliminary autopsy has ruled out natural death, authorities are awaiting toxicological results to establish the cause of death and provide further direction to the investigation.
The circumstances surrounding the deaths remain under investigation.
