Category: Crime Diary

  • Woman stabs brother to death in Kano

    19-year-old woman Mariya Suleiman, of Badawa Quarters, Nassarawa Local Government Area of Kano State, was on Saturday, arrested by the police for allegedly stabbing her 30-year-old brother, Sani Suleiman, to death, following a dispute between them.

    Kano State Police Command Spokesman, Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), said the command, through its Badawa Divisional office, received a report at about 5pm on Saturday, that the woman had stabbed her elder brother on his neck.

    Kiyawa said it was learnt that Mariya had been engaging in a heated argument with her brother for two days.

    The woman was said to have suddenly stabbed her brother on the neck.

    Suleiman was rushed to the hospital but died.

    Read Also: Just in: 19 Killed, many injured in Kano auto crash

    Kiyawa said an argument ensued because the late Suleiman allegedly maltreated his sister’s baby.

    But eyewitnesses claimed that the cause of the incident was the refusal of Suleiman to organise a traditional wedding for two of his younger sisters.

    The Ward Head of Unguwan Gaya Badawa , Alhaji Haliru Mohammed, expressed shock, over the incident, adding that the parents of the accused and the victim, lost consciousness when the news was broken to them.

    Alhaji Mohammed said they were receiving treatment at a nearby hospital.

    The late Suleiman had been buried according to Islamic rites.

    The Police spokesman said Kano State Police Commissioner (CP) Ahmed Iliyasu, had ordered the transfer of the case from Badawa Division to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), at the Police Headquarters, Bompai, for further investigation.

  • Police arrest three kidnappers, rescue four-yr-old girl in Kano

    The Kano State Police Command on Saturday rescued a four-year-old girl who was abducted two weeks ago by three kidnappers from her parents’ residence at Naibawa quarters, in Kano.

    Khidijat Rilwanu was recovered in Kaduna from the residence of her abductors.

    Parading the suspects, Police Commissioner Ahmed Iliyasu, said: “on 4th of July, 2019, a team of Puff Adder detectives arrested one Ibrahim Musa of Ungwar Rimi quarters in Kaduna. On interrogation, two female suspects of the same address were arrested and a victim, one Khadijat Riliwanu, four years old of Wailari Quarters, Kano was rescued at the residence of the female suspects, while investigation is in progress.”

    Iliyasu said 10 other suspected bandits were intercepted at Koki Quarters in a Toyota Hiace Bus, heading to Badawa Quarters.

    When the vehicle was searched, they were found to be in possession of 22 various dangerous weapons, including long knives, short knives, large quantity of hard drugs, and intoxicating/hallucinating substances, with new weapons of violence, known in local parlance, as ‘fate-fate tsitaka and barandami”

    Read Also: Lecturer kidnapped as Police, suspected kidnappers engaged in gun duel

    Iliyasu said  61 suspects were arrested at various criminal hideouts, while one Aminu, who graduated from Kano University of Science and Technology, currently undergoing a Masters Degree programme at Bayero University, Kano (BUK), was arrested , alongside his accomplice for stabbing a night guard at the university and was found to be in possession of 15 stolen laptops.

    He said six armed robbers and kidnap suspects were arrested, while Bashir Sani of Rimin Kebbe Quarters, Kano was apprehended in possession of a single barrel gun, loaded with 15 rounds of cartridges, adding that during investigation, another one locally-made gun, one chemical/pepper spray, one jack knife, one walkie-talkie, one handcuff and a police belt were recovered from him.

    Iliyasu said, over 122 suspects, who were arrested and paraded two weeks ago have been charged to various courts of law within the state for prosecution, adding that those, who have just been arrested would be charged to court as soon as investigations are completed.

    Items recovered from the suspects, include 15 laptop computers; 26 parcels, as well as 250 wraps and other large quantities of Indian hemp; three stolen motor vehicles; 18 live ammunitions; 16 live cartridges; eight cut lasses; 32 clubs; 43 knives, 32 sachets of Diazapam tablets and 220 bottles of Suck-and-die.

  • Jos High Court remands six men for kidnapping, rape

    A Jos High Court yesterday ordered that six men who allegedly kidnapped and raped two girls, be remanded in prison custody, pending hearing on their bail applications.

    The Attorney-General (AG) of Plateau charged Inusa Yahaya, Rabiu Jibrin, Abdullahi Mohammed, Nuhu Mohammed, Sale Suleiman and Lawal Saidu all residents of Jos with conspiracy, kidnapping, rape and extortion.

    Justice Christine Dabup of High Court IV,  adjourned the case until July 24 for the bail applications and Oct. 18 and Oct. 28 for hearing.

    Earlier, Mr Gideon Azi, Principal State Counsel, Plateau Ministry of Justice, who represented the AG, told that that the accused committed the offense on March 6, 2019.

    He said:”My Lord, the accused persons on March 6, conspired, kidnapped two young girls, raped them and extorted their parents of N2.1 Million  and  thereby  committed offences  contrary to sections 245 (1)(2)(3), 256(1) and 276 of the penal code of Plateau.

    “ The accused had abducted the two victims at Rantya Quarters in Jos South Local Government and took them to an unknown destination for a period of time until a  ransom of N2. 130 million was paid to them.

    Read also:  BRT driver in court over alleged manslaughter

    “The suspects committed the offence along with two others, one Samaila Adams now late and one Sule, who is now at large, “ Azi stated.

    ”My Lord,I  apply that the matter be adjourned to enable them file their bail applications properly and for me to also reply accordingly.

    “It won’t be proper for us to take the applications piecemeal but at a go.

    “I hereby apply that the suspects be kept in Prison Custody pending when the bail applications would be taken on the next adjourned date, “ Azi pleaded.

    After the charges were read to them, the accused pleaded not guilty to all the four count charge.

     

  • ‘Why I killed my husband’

    A 41-year-old mother of four, Douglas Ajemine, who allegedly killed her husband, Inedugoba Tyger, 40, has been arrested by operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team, IRT, in Abalama area of Rivers State.

    It was learnt that Ajemine, confessed that she killed 40-year-old Inedugoba Tyger and buried his corpse in a shallow grave within the area because he abandoned her to go and live with another woman.

    Ajemine, who is a staff of the Rivers State Primary Health Care, in Asari Toru Local Government area of the state, said she contracted two men to kill the victim on January 25, 2019, because he routinely beat and raped her whenever he pressed for sex.

    She was arrested following a petition to the police by Tyger’s relations, who gave graphic details of how the  Buguma native got missing after a political event within the community.

    A source revealed that  Tyger, before his death, had a misunderstanding with Ajemine a situation which made him to move out of his home in Abalama area of the state, and relocated to Port Harcourt, but the 2019, general elections, provided him an opportunity to reconcile with his estranged wife.

    The source said that Ajemine soon after the reconciliation made arrangements with two persons to attack and kill her husband in their Abalama residence.

    It was gathered that the victim was sleeping when his assailants went into his house and strangled him to death.

    They then took his corpse to the back of the house and dug a shallow grave where they buried his remains.

    Police source added that, after Ajemine had finished killing and burying her husband, she took his car to a nearby market and parked it where it could be recovered by the police and she also took his mobile phones and sent text messages to her husband’s brothers informing them that Tyger was traveling out of the state on a business trip.

    Read also: Gunmen kidnap woman in Oyo

    Tyger’s brothers reported his disappearance to the police after they could not reach him on his mobile telephones several days later.

    Ajemine was subsequently arrested alongside one of her accomplices, Kingsley Nna and the duo led the police to the spot where the body of the victim was buried.

    Ajemine said: “I met my husband, Inedugoba Charles Tyger,  in December 2014, and we got married the following year. My husband had two children before I married him and he pleaded that he needed me to help him take care of his children.  He told me that his two children were out of school because there was no woman to look after them and he was equally not residing in Port Harcourt.

    ‘’I accepted, and I moved into his house and I started taking care of his children. My husband worked with Elf Oil and Gas and he had a court case with his company and at a point, he couldn’t pay his house rent because it was increased by his landlord. By January 2016, he was sacked from his job and we relocated to our village in Buguma and his children were all staying in my house.

    ‘’In  April 2016, my husband got some money from his former company and went to my family and paid my bride price.  We then relocated to his family house and since he had no job, he became so aggressive and abusive.

    ‘’He was shouting when he shouldn’t and he would hit me when he did not need it. I then advised him to look for a job and he went into illegal oil bunkering and was also looking for a white-collar job. We later moved out of his family house and relocated to Port Harcourt.

    ‘’I have a store in the community and he was not appreciating all that we were doing for him and by December 31, 2017  he decided to go to party with some friends and he refused to go to the house to go and pray and he started beating me. He even stopped me from coming to Port Harcourt to meet him.  Last April my son and her daughter sat for university matriculation examination and my son passed but his daughter failed and we agreed to buy a pre-degree form but he stopped responding to our demands.

    ‘’ I took his daughter to the Port Harcourt house to see him and we discovered that a woman was living with him. I took the girl’s clothes to his family and my husband came to remove his clothes while the girl(her husband’s girlfriend) burnt all my clothes in my husband’s house. Later, he started coming to the house to carry things to sell and he would beat me up.

    ‘’I later moved out of that house in Abalama and moved to  Port Harcourt and he consulted a native doctor to give him charms to kill me. He didn’t know where I was staying but he called asking for a metal ladder that was in my care in January 2019. And when he came, he wanted to have sex with me at the passage in the house at Abalama but I had met one Kingsley at Egbelu area of Port Harcourt, where I rented an apartment and I told him that I was new and my husband could come and harass me.

    ‘’Kingsley promised to assist me. On the day he came to collect the ladder he wanted to have sex with me and I refused and he tore my cloths. Fortunately,  I ran out and called Kingsley crying on the phone and he came and started beating my husband and he was crying.

    ‘’When  I couldn’t bear it, I went outside and when I came in I asked about my husband and they told me that he was dead and warned me that if I told anyone that they will kill me and my children.

    ‘’They said if I let anyone know that they were the people that killed my husband they would kill me. They took my husband to Sandfiled close to our house and buried my husband him.I didn’t follow them to the exact spot where my husband was buried.’’

    In his confession, Kingsley Nnaa said Ajemine paid him and his friend the sum of N100,000 to kill her husband and that he also had sex with her severally.

    Nna said:“ In December 2018, I met a woman known as  Ajemina, at Egbelu Odara Junction in Ogbogoro town and I was with one of my friends known as Sunny and the woman told us that her husband was maltreating her.

    ‘’I told her whenever the man called that she should call us or she should shout for people in the community to come out. Later on, she called again and said that she wanted us to beat the man. I asked her how we were going to see the man and beat him and she said that the man used to come to her house in Ogbogoro and he also used to come to her own house in Abalama to beat her.

    ‘’In January 2019, she gave us N50,000 and said she would call us whenever the man was with her. On January 26, she called again in the afternoon and she said that the man was coming and we should come and beat the man. When we got there we met the woman and her husband naked and it was like they had just finished making love.

    ‘’The room was dark and the woman flashed a touch at us and we found the man in bed and Sunny(his partner) wrapped the man’s face with a wrapper and a pillow, then I started beating the man and he woke up and started struggling and he was shouting and the man removed what Sunny tied on his face and the man saw Sunny and recognized him and they started speaking their Kalabari language.

    ‘’I didn’t know what they were talking about, but Sunny said we should kill the man since he had seen his face and I held the man and Sunny strangled the man.

    ‘’We called the woman who was outside when this happened and told her that the man was dead and she told us that she didn’t tell us to kill the man but she went and brought a shovel for us and showed us a space where we should bury the man.

    ‘’The next day which was Sunday the woman called us again and gave us N30,000 and by evening of that day she called me and said she wanted me to make love to her and when I met her in a hotel we made love for two hours.

    ‘’One week later, we met again in that same hotel in Egelu Town in Ogbogoru community and we made love again. We also made love for the third time, but I stopped responding to her calls because she wanted to turn me to her husband.

    ‘’Since that day I killed that man I have not been myself. I have gone to church to pray for forgiveness and now they have arrested me. I believe God has forgiven me. “

     

  • Gunmen abduct woman

    Some gunmen on Monday abducted a woman, Mrs Blessing Arinze, at her shop in Gboko, Benue State.

    The gunmen stormed their victim’s 52 JS Yarka Way, Gboko shop around 12pm.

    The Nation learnt that the gunmen, who came in a Lexus Jeep 330 tinted ash blue with government registration number 20 FG 02 BN, missed their target.

    A trader, who shares the same shop with the victim, said the gunmen were after the woman’s husband, Chief Chukwudi Arinze, a motorcycle dealer in Gboko.

    He said the husband escaped on citing the vehicle.

    The gunmen were said to have grabbed a customer they met at the shop but later left him and forced Mrs Arinze into their vehicle after collecting her handset and other valuables.

    Read Also: Vigilance group rescue five kidnapped victims

    They zoomed off towards Gondo Aluor road, Gboko shooting sporadically into the air.

    “They came demanding to see Chukwudi Arinze but discovered that their target escaped and grabbed his wife and forced her  into their vehicle and escaped,” another person said.

    Chairman of Gboko Local Government Area, Jacob Iorver , vowed to put an end to criminal activities in Gboko.

    Chief Arinze appealed to security agencies to save the life of his wife.

    He said he sighted the tinted vehicle coming towards his shop and escaped because he was warned on the mode of operation of the suspected kidnappers.

  • 10 killed in Benue community

    Benue State Police Command has confirmed that 10 persons have been killed by gunmen in Agatu Local Government Area on Sunday night.

    The killing took place in farming and fishing community called Okokolo, Benue South Senatorial District.
    Police spokesman Kate Anene, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP) said the Commissioner of Police has led a team of security men to the scene of the incident.

    Read Also: Two policemen killed as robbers make away with cash, rifles

    Anene said normalcy has been restored following the deployment of security men.

    A member of the community, who pleaded anonymity, said the gunmen stormed the community in the night when the people were asleep and opened fire on houses killing 10 persons at the spot while others sustained injuries.

  • Oyo police investigate ‘sale’ of baby for N50,000 in Ibadan

    The Oyo State Police Command has said it is investigating the alleged sale of an eight-month-old-baby boy for N50,000 by the mother and foster father in Ibadan.

    The father of the baby, a Chinese expatriate, is said to have been deported by his employer, China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC), which is handling the Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge rail line.

    The firm took the action after discovering that he was the father of the baby.

    The Chinese expatriate was said to have been having an affair with the woman at a secluded place near the yard of the company for several months, promising to marry her.

    Police spokesman Olugbenga Fadeyi said the matter, reported at Omi Adio Police Station by some concerned residents, was being investigated to ascertain the veracity of the alleged transaction.

    The suspect, identified as Mary, Fadeyi said, was arrested along with her boyfriend, Odunayo, following a report that the duo connived to sell the baby after the biological father had been deported to avoid embarrassment for the company.

    The police spokesperson, however, said the baby was not sold based on the preliminary investigation.

    Fadeyi, while confirming that the Chinese expatriate has been repatriated, said the woman was released after it was discovered that she did not sell the baby.

    Fadeyi said: “It happened a while ago. The lady was impregnated by a Chinese national whose employer has repatriated. But, the blood of the baby was thick. The baby has pneumonia. Somebody came to the rescue of the baby to take care of the hospital bill.

    Read Also: Mob sets police station ablaze over alleged killing of youth in Imo

    “When the people did not see the baby, they accused the lady of selling the baby. The DPO in the area intervened and they invited the man who promised to take care of the baby to assist with the hospital bill.

    “The man, who impregnated the lady, has been repatriated. He had been repatriated before the case was reported with the police. The DPO said that they are still conducting an investigation. She promised to update me if there is any development.”

    The complainant, a worker with CCECC, Mr Moses Kehinde, said that the father of the baby, (Chinese expatriate) had persuaded the lady to abort the pregnancy but the baby’s mother never supported the idea.

    This, Kehinde said, led to the disagreement between the two lovers.

    He said: “The baby developed health challenges to the point that the mother could not afford the hospital bills, but within a short time, the baby got well.”

    He disagreed with the police that the baby’s mother didn’t plan to sell him.

    “The police are saying a Good Samaritan came and decided to take up the treatment of the baby. He took the baby away from the mother and bought her a cell phone.

    “That is a cock and bull story. The question is how can a mother give away eight-month-old baby that is still breastfeeding to a strange man?  The mother is here romancing with another lover.”

  • Evans loses battle to stop trial

    The Court of Appeal in Lagos on Monday dismissed three appeals by suspected billionaire kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike alias Evans, seeking to stop his trial at two high courts in Lagos State.

    A three-man panel led by Justice Jummai Sankey held that Evans’ appeals against three rulings of the Ikeja High Court were without merit.

    Other Justices on the panel were Justice Philomena Ekpe and Justice Muhammed Mustapha.

    In the three appeals, Evans challenged the lower courts’ jurisdiction and sought to strike out and quash the kidnap, attempted murder and murder charges filed by the government against him.

    In the first appeal against the ruling of Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of an Ikeja High Court, the first to fourth respondents were the Lagos State Government and Evans’ co-defendants; Joseph Emeka, Chiemeka Arinze and Udeme Upong

    Justice Taiwo, on November 10, 2017, dismissed Evans’ application seeking to quash an amended seven-count charge against him, dated October 26, 2017.

    Read Also: Falana may testify in Evans’ case

    The applicant also challenged the Ikeja High Court’s jurisdiction in the second appeal, where the respondents were the same.

    The appellate court consolidated both appeals and Justice Sankey held: “The appeals are hereby dismissed. The ruling of the lower court is affirmed. I hold that the lower court has jurisdiction to continue with the trial and to entertain all the counts of the charge.”

    In the third appeal, the first to fifth respondents were The State of Lagos and Evans’ co-defendants: Uche Amadi, Ogechi Uchechukwu, Chilaka Ifeanyi and Victor Aduba.

    Evans claimed that Justice Hakeem Oshodi erred in law when he held that the amended information/ charge dated October 19, 2017, filed by the first respondent, was incompetent without an accompanying or attached proof of evidence as required by law.

    But Justice Philomena Ekpe, who read the lead judgment, dismissed the appeal as being unmeritorious.

    Justice Ekpe held: “Accordingly, this appeal is adjudged unmeritorious. It fails and is therefore dismissed in its entirety. The ruling delivered by the lower court by Justice Oshodi on November 3, 2017, in suit NO ID/5970C/2017, is upheld. I make no order as to cost, appeal dismissed.”

  • Court dismisses Indian’s no-case submission in N32b fraud case

    The Federal High Court on Monday dismissed a no-case submission by an Indian businessman, Patrick Fernandez, who allegedly defrauded five banks of N32billion.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charged him along with three of his companies with 56 counts of fraud.

    The commission said one of the banks contacted its Financial Intelligence Unit in July 2008 to report the fraud.

    After the prosecution closed its case, Fernandez filed a no-case application, urging the court to discharge and acquit him on the ground that the prosecution had no prima facie case against him.

    Dismissing the no-case submission, Justice Mojisola Olatoregun held that the defendant had some explanations to make in view of the prosecution’s evidence.

    “The court only needs to determine, at this stage, whether a prima facie case had been made out by the prosecution against the defendants.

    “In view of the evidences put before the court by the prosecution, the defendants need to offer some explanations on the allegations. They are hereby called upon to open their defence,” the judge said.

    The affected banks, EFCC said, are Zenith Bank, Afribank (now Polaris Bank), Intercontinental Bank (now Access Bank), Union Bank and Wema Bank.

    The commission said the fraud was uncovered when the banks discovered that “they were clearing the same cheque” from Fernandez.

    An EFCC investigator, Bashir Abdullahi, said Fernandez was involved in “cheque-kitting and round-tripping,” which he said is also known as “Lazy Susan – a business model.”

    According to him, “Lazy Susan” involves members of a business group transferring money from one sister company to another without selling any commodity, using money obtained from banks as loans.

    He said as at September 2007, the accused had less than N2 million in his account.

    Read Also: Falana to court: compel Fed Govt to recover $40b, N481b

    “The volume of the transaction was also minimal, starting with N20 million. Within the same month, it rose to N600 million. The volume of this transaction also skyrocketed to billions of naira within just three months,” he said.

    The transactions, he said, involved the use of “suspended cheques” which did not go through the clearinghouse.

    “If he brings a cheque, a credit will be given to him immediately without going through clearance. Because he has a cheque discounting facility, if he brings N1 billion cheque, they will give him N800 million,” Abdullahi said.

    According to him, Wema Bank, for instance, discovered that it lost N23billion through the defendant’s fraudulent acts.

    On how the fraud was perpetrated, the witness said a high ranking Wema Bank staff member aided the fraudulent transactions.

    The Wema Bank insider, the witness said, “was suppressing the cheque”, such that when other banks asked whether there was money in Fernandez’s account, the official would answer in the affirmative.

    Abdullahi said the accused person claimed to be involved in oil and gas business, which he claimed was “cash-intensive” and therefore needed to be moving money from one bank to the other.

    The witness said the bubble burst when the banks, at the clearinghouse, discovered that “they were clearing the same cheque”.

    The prosecution called nine witnesses and closed its case on April 8.

  • Two jailed for internet fraud in Ibadan

    Justice Patricia Ajoku of the Federal High Court, Ibadan Division on Monday convicted two young men of internet related offences and sentenced them to jail.

    The duo of Olubayo Oluwaseyi (a.ka.Rachel Erick) and Abe Tolulope Emmanuel (a.k.a. Victoria Grant) were found guilty of fraudulent impersonation and sending pornographic and indecent pictures in the respective one-count charges filed against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibadan zonal office.

    Due to the plea bargain agreement between them and the Commission, the original charges were replaced with the amended charges as presented before the court on Monday.

    Read Also: Six jailed for internet fraud

    Olubayo’s offence was contrary to Section 22(3)(b) of Cyber Crime (Prohibition, Prevention Etc) Act, 2015, and punishable under Section 22(4) of the Act.

    Sending pornographic and indecent picture, the charge against Abe runs contrary to Section 24 (1)(a) of Cyber Crime (Prohibition, Prevention Etc) Act, 2015, and punishable under Section 24 (1) of the Act.

    They pleaded guilty to the latest charges when they were read to them.

    After the pleas, the prosecution counsel, Iyabo Daramola, prayed the court to convict and sentence them accordingly.

    In delivering her judgment, Justice Ajoku upheld the terms in the respective plea bargain agreements as she sentenced Olubayo to six months in prison, and jailed Abe for five months.

    The convicts were also ordered to restitute to their victims the money they fraudulently collected from their victims, and also to forfeit all the items recovered from them to the Federal government of Nigeria.