Author: The Nation

Nasarawa State Police Command said it has arrested 30 suspected kidnappers and armed robbers, and recovered ammunition.

The command’s Public Relations Officer, PPRO DSP Rahman Nansel, disclosed this while parading the suspects at the state headquarters in Lafia.

Among the cases, he said, was that of a Zakari Umar, 28, Alias Dan Wudil, who allegedly called his victim and threatened to kidnap, killed him if he failed to pay N1.5 million.

He said the suspect was arrested after a compliant was lodged at Awe Area Command.

“Investigation revealed that the suspect called his victim on phone and threatened him, due to fear of being kidnapped, the victim was coerced into paying the sum of one million, one hundred and fifty thousand naira to the suspect as ransom.

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“Upon arrest, he led police operatives to a farmland where the sum of seven hundred and fifty thousand naira was exhumed and recovered as exhibit. The suspect has confessed to the crime.”

Nansel said operatives of Lafia A Division, on July 13, arrested one Hamza Yusuf, 22, for allegedly kidnapping a five-year-old, adding that the suspect confessed to have conspired with two others to carryout the act.

“The suspect confesssed to be responsible for kidnapping one Musbau Faruk, 8 years where they collected the sum of three hundred thousand naira as ransom from the father before releasing the child.

“Effort is on top gear to arrest other members of the syndicate still at large.”

A middle-aged man, identified as Chima has been reported dead after he was hit with a pestle by his houseboy in Ifite, Awka, Anambra State.

The deceased, a Technologist in the Department of Psychology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, was allegedly murdered following a brawl with the deceased over washing of plate at his residence.

The suspect, in a viral video had confessed hitting the deceased with a pestle thrice before he slumped.

He said: “When my Oga came back, he told me to cook rice. As I was cooking the rice, he asked me why I did not wash plates. I did not reply and he became angry on why I wasn’t responding to his question.

“Immediately, he slapped me; but I told him that people don’t slap me because I usually have ear problem. He slapped me again, asking if I was still talking while he was talking.

“He quickly rushed for a cane and started flogging me all over. That was when I got provoked and engaged him in a fight. In the process, I picked up the pestle in the kitchen and hit him on the head three times.

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“I stopped at that point after he had slumped in the pool of his blood.”

The video showed the deceased lying lifeless in the hospital bed, with his relatives, friends and some hospital officials interrogating the suspect.

The Nation gathered that while the deceased was being taken to the hospital together with the suspect, he (suspect) who earlier denied responsibility for the death, attempted to choke himself to death inside the vehicle.

“That act raised suspicion that he was actually responsible for the death. Meanwhile, the victim who still had little breath, managed to mention the suspect’s name before he finally gave up the ghost,” a family member narrated.

The suspect, who earlier claimed it was the deceased’s lover that attacked him, later confessed to the crime after he was tortured at the hospital.

Police spokesperson, Tochukwu Ikenga, was yet to respond to text messages sent to him at the time of this report.

• •Lawyer nabbed •FCTA bursts illicit drugs colony

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja, have arrested a 19-year-old student, Benjamin Nnamani Daberechi, for attempting to export 7.2 kilograms of methamphetamine concealed in crayfish to Europe, where he was going for undergraduate studies.

Director, Media and Advocacy NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, revealed this in a statement yesterday.

The teenager was intercepted on Wednesday July 12, during an outward clearance of passengers on Turkish Airlines flight TK0624, Babafemi said.

According to the statement, while being interviewed by operatives, Daberechi claimed he was a student on his way to Cyprus for studies, but upon a thorough search of his luggage, he was found in possession of 7.2kg of whitish substance neatly concealed inside a sack of crayfish.

Babafemi said a field test of the substance however proved positive to Methamphetamine.

The NDLEA spokesman also said operatives of the agency at the Tincan Port Command on Tuesday July 11, intercepted 116.5kg consignment of Colorado, a strong strain of cannabis concealed in bags hidden in a heap of used vehicles’ parts on the floor of a container marked FCIU 8459700, bearing three units of used vehicles imported from Toronto, Canada.

The statement reads, “Based on intelligence, the agency had requested for a 100 percent examination of the container which arrived the TICT terminal of the port on June 14. A joint examination with the Nigeria Customs, DSS and other stakeholders on Tuesday 11th July however led to the discovery of 233 parcels of the illicit substance stashed inside travelling bags on the floor of the container, covered with used vehicles spare parts.”

“Also attempts to export various quantities of illicit substances through courier companies were equally thwarted by NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operation and General Investigations, DOGI in Lagos. While 336 grams of skunk stuffed inside computer hard drives going to Dubai, UAE, were seized at a courier firm, a suspect, Ibrahim Analu, 28, was arrested at Iddo motor park, Lagos while attempting to send 151,700 pills of opioids to Kaduna.

“A total of 4.830kg skunk was also discovered at another courier firm in a shipment from Douala, Cameroon passing through Nigeria to Oman. The drug was concealed in 10 of 12 cans of palm fruits paste, locally called Banga, packed in a carton.

“Meanwhile, a Lekki Lagos based female lawyer, Ebikpolade Helen, who specialises in production and distribution of skuchies, a mixture of cannabis, opioids and black currant has been arrested in a follow up operation in Awka, Anambra State following an earlier seizure of 5kg cannabis and 12 bottles of prepared skuchies in her apartment at Lekki…”

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Similarly, officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, weekend uncovered an illegal drug colony around AYA Roundabout, Asokoro, during raids, dislodging of notorious spots for environmental and sundry nuisances in the city.

Secretary, FCTA Command and Control, Peter Olumuji, who addressed newsmen after the exercise, said the hideout was smashed following credible intelligence from security agencies.

“We have been able to dislodge where they normally reside and that is a good development to those traversing around the place especially in the nighttime.

“We had gotten reports that people are being attacked whenever they are traversing this environment. But with the action that we have taken now, such criminal activities here have been reduced to the barest minimum, which we hope to sustain.

“For now, we are not able to make any arrest, because when we entered there, most of them had escaped,” he said.

Similarly, Deputy Director, Monitoring and Enforcement, AEPB, Kaka Bello, said: “AYA is one of the notorious places where we encounter a lot of challenges whenever we come for such cleaning exercise, given the rate of nuisance here, which has been abated. And the illicit drug related offences that were apprehended by the NDLEA officers.

“They are all interwoven and we are working together with other agencies to make sure that we abate such nuisances. And it is a daily thing, which we would continue to do, as the city must be clean.”