The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Police

  • Police kill two kidnappers in Niger

    Niger State Police Command has killed two kidnappers at Rama hills in Kagara town, Rati Local Government, after a four-hour gun duel.

    Police spokesman Babalola Adewole, who confirmed this yesterday in Minna, said other members of the gang escaped with injuries.

    He said the hoodlums abducted Bashir Alhaji Nadarere from his home at Karate village in Rafi Council and demanded N2 million ransom.

    Adewole said the family paid the money after alerting the police, who trailed the kidnappers to their hideout.

    He said the abductors refused to surrender, which resulted in a four-hour gun duel.

    Two of them were killed and N1.2 million, believed to be part of the ransom collected from the victim’s relations, recovered with two AK 47 rifles and 20 rounds of ammunition.

    The spokesman said the police were trailing the injured suspects, urging the public to assist them.

    “The command wishes to inform the public and hospitals to report cases of bullet injuries to the nearest police station.”

  • Alleged $1m fraud: Businessman petitions Buhari over police handling of case

    • ‘Officer handling case transferred for rejecting bribe from suspects’

    Businessman, Austin Ugochukwu Albert, has petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over alleged poor handling of a $1million ( N360 million) fraud case he lodged with the Police.

    He said he paid N360 million in exchange for $1million, which he never got.

    He said he was suspecting compromise, abuse of office and corrupt activities by some officers assigned to investigate how he was swindled of the $1million.

    He blamed some officers in the Inspector-General of Police monitoring unit of compromise.

    He alleged that he suspected a corrupt deal of about $200,000 to frustrate his complaint to the police.

    He said the officer handling his case was transferred in a suspicious manner at the prompting of one of the influential suspects, who defrauded him.

    He said he could not understand why the officer was redeployed midway into a crucial investigation in which he had recovered $205,000.

    In a petition through his counsel, Ugochukwu Ezekiel, he urged President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to return his case to the Force Intelligence Unit instead of the Monitoring Unit.

    He said he paid  N360 million with intent to source for $1million for his business.

    But after successfully remitting the N360 million, a group of five suspects involved in the transaction refused to give him the $1million.

    He said: “Our client first reported the matter at Area J Command of the Nigeria Police Force, Ajah, Lagos State, where the suspects made confessional statements that the entire transaction was a fraud but at this point they all refused to give up their kingpin;  Bakare.

    “The matter was later transferred to Zone 2 Command of the Nigeria Police Force, Lagos on the orders of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, who equally ordered that all accounts already frozen by the Police pursuant to their investigation activities be unfrozen. Our client was dissatisfied and wrote a petition to the Inspector General of Police.

    “Unfortunately, the officers that investigated the matter at Inspector General of Police monitoring unit compromised the matter, refused to arrest the kingpin, who had been identified as  Bakare.

    “They hurriedly charged the matter to a Magistrate Court in Abuja, which to their knowledge, has no jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

    “The suspects were subsequently set free on ridiculous bail conditions and this emboldened them as they called our client and demanded that our client should not pursue the matter anymore or he would be eliminated.

    “To forestall the materialisation of their threat, our client wrote a fresh petition to the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department and the matter was assigned to the Force Intelligence Bureau for investigation.

    “On learning of the embarrassing situation, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Inspector General of Police monitoring unit quickly transferred the case file to the Force Intelligence Bureau for a review and unbiased investigation..

    “Our client must confess that the Force Intelligence Bureau acted professionally and intelligently and within weeks rounded up the suspects and obtained an order from the Federal High Court to have them detained pending investigation.

    “We are aware that the head of Force Intelligence Bureau was offered  some huge amount of money as bribe and he turned it down.

    “To our client’s utter consternation, our client got information that  Bakare was boasting while still in detention that he has offered the money that was rejected by men of Force Intelligence Bureau to some officers  in the Monitoring Unit and that the case will not only be taken away from that department but the head of that unit, who he described as very strict, will be removed.

    “Our client treated this as the joke of the century and moved on. However, less than 24 hours after our client got the information, the Inspector General of Police sent a signal that the case file be transferred to another unit and that the officer be immediately transferred.”

    The businessman urged the President to use his “good offices to ensure that the case is returned to the Force Intelligence Unit and the honest officer unduly removed be reinstated to that unit”.

  • Police to arrest anyone found with Biafra insigna

    Police to arrest anyone found with Biafra insigna

    The Abia State Command of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) has announced that henceforth, it would start arresting anyone or group of persons found to be in possession of Biafra insigna.

    The newly  Abia State Commissioner of Police, CP Anthony Michael Ogbizi in a chat with newsmen in Aba at the weekend said that the command decided to take such step after activities of the group was proscribed by Governors of the Southeast and its declaration as a terrorist group by the Nigerian Army.

    Ogbizi further urged parents to warn their children and wards against being in possession of Biafran/IPOB flags, shoes, hand band and any other Biafran insigma or be in the gathering or meetings of the “outlawed” group.

     Ogbizi who disclosed that the policeman; an Assistant Superintendent of Police that was injured during the Ariaria invasion died in a hospital where he was receiving medical attention said that efforts were already in place to arrest other fleeing members of the gang.

     The Police Chief assured members of the public of continued protection of their lives and property, stating that the police would not fold its arms to watch unscrupulous elements to thwart the existing peace in the state and Aba in particular.

     He also thanked the IGP, Ibrahim Idris Kpotum who he said graciously sent about 500 Policemen that came in company of the AIG Operations Force Headquarters, Taiwo Lakanu to fortify security in the state with the men that they have on ground.

     While urging Abians and residents of the state to go about their lawful business without fear of being intimidated by any persons or group of persons, he said the Police would work together with other security agencies in the state to sustain the existing peace in the state.

  • Suspected rapists of Church members arrested in Enugu

    Suspected rapists of Church members arrested in Enugu

    The Police in Enugu State said they had nabbed nine suspected rapists, specialised in raping female members of a church at the outskirts of Enugu.

    The Spokesman of the command, Mr Ebere Amaraizu, a Superintendent of Police, disclosed this in a statement in Enugu on Sunday.

    Amaraizu said that the arrest was made possible by a “well-co-ordinated intelligence information’’.

    He said that policemen in Ozalla arrested the suspects during a night vigil in a church located at Akpasha community in Nkanu West Local Government Area.

    He said that the suspects were rounded up at about 2 a.m. on Saturday.

    Amaraizu said that the suspects often pretended to be worshippers in the church and would take advantage of any female worshipper going out to answer nature’s call “and wreck the havoc”

    According to him, they forcefully have carnal knowledge of their victims.

    “This nefarious act is done while service in the church is going on, and after the rape, they run away,’’ he said.

    He said that the suspects were already regretting their actions, and were helping police in the investigation of the matter. (NAN)

  • Police recover petrol bombs, others from Kanu’s house

    Police recover petrol bombs, others from Kanu’s house

    The Police in Abia State said yesterday that soldiers  recovered Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and  petrol bombs from the  house of the leader of the  Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, in the state.

    The items are now in the custody of the police, according to Police Commissioner Anthony Ogbizi.

    Ogbizi briefing the visiting  Assistant Inspector General (AIG)  Operations, Force Headquarters, Taiwo Lakanu, in Umuahia said the Station Officer of the Ariaria Police Divisional Headquarters in Aba that was attacked last week by suspected members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) died yesterday.

    He had sustained serious injuries when  the station  was attacked by the arsonists and was subsequently taken to the hospital for treatment.

    Ogbizi said the Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP)  died early yesterday in an undisclosed hospital where he was receiving medical attention.

    The Police Commissioner also said 37 suspected members of IPOB were arrested in the state in connection with last week’s unrest.

    The suspects will be arraigned in court tomorrow.

    Thirty of them were arrested by soldiers in Isiala Ngwa area of the state, while the remaining seven are accused of having a hand in the Friday looting and burning of the Ariaria Police Divisional Headquarters.

    Police Commissioner  Anthony Ogbizi told the visiting  Assistant Inspector General (AIG)  Operations, Force Headquarters Taiwo Lakanu that  efforts were on to arrest more suspects in connection with the mayhem.

    He said soldiers recovered Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petrol bombs from Nnamdi Kanu’s house.

    The items are now in police custody.

    He added that the Station Officer, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, who sustained serious injuries after he was attacked by the arsonists, died early hours of today in an undisclosed hospital where he was receiving medical attention.

    He recalled how arsonists forcefully broke the police station’s entrance zone and destroyed almost everything.

    He said: “They were armed with petrol bomb. They burnt police vehicles and carted away three pump actions and other police materials. Some officers were injured and in fact as I’m talking to you, one of the injured police officer, an ASP is dead.

    “The doctors tried their best to save him, but they couldn’t. Now, we have lost a soul. And you know what it takes to train a police officer. And you know the vacuum created. Once a police officer is gone, it takes a minimum of one year to train another

    The seven we arrested will be charged for murder, arson and conspiracy for breach of the law.

    “Simultaneously, they carried other attacks on law abiding citizens of this nation. You could see along the road the destruction of vehicles belonging to citizens. Certainly you cannot say that that is a peaceful demonstration. I think this attack was orchestrated to get arms which they succeeded in doing. Thank God the police succeeded in securing other arms. They attacked a bank may be with the intention to get more money to buy arms.

    “IPOB, going to that extent, cannot say that it is a non-violent movement. While this one was happening here, along the road in Isiala Ngwa, the same IPOB members in droves confronted the military and the military were able to arrest up to 30 of them.

    “They will be prosecuted for rioting and unlawful assembly and other things. While that was going on, the same IPOB carried attack of various manner in Umuahia and even tried to collect a rifle from a female military officer. In the process, the military resisted and were able to arrest 19 of them.

    “At the same time, along the road leading to Umuahia, they set up bonfire attacking the police and innocent citizens and pulled out traffic stands. The vicinity where the Attorney General of the State, Assistant Inspector General Zone 9, Commissioner of Police, and other residents live. They attacked the quarters of the Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone 9 and that of the Commissioner of Police.

    “And the house of the self acclaimed leader of IPOB, Kanu was the house they usually come out from to carry out these attacks and information reaching us is that they have started gathering there. Many exhibits were recovered from there like petrol bomb and coat of arm of Biafra.

    “I know that 90% of Abians are not in support of this, but a few hoodlums and some others from other states operating under the disguise of IPOB with the motive to cripple the economy of Abia. If this is not planned, how could they come in droves to carry out these attacks? At a time, a mobile patrol vehicle was moving and IPOB members poured petrol on the van with intent to burn it. Imagine if that was successful. I’m glad that eastern governors have proscribed the organisation.

    On the allegation by IPOB that security agents whisked away Kanu’s father and some members of the IPOB leader’s family, Ogbizi said “We don’t have Kanu’s father in police net.”

  • Northern Governors: Army, police to remain on alert

    Northern Governors: Army, police to remain on alert

    •Salute residents for nonviolence
    •Laud Lalong for rapid response in Jos

    The 19 Northern State Governors want the army and the police to remain on the alert in the region with a view to tackling any attempt to cause breach of security.

    Their chairman and Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima in a statement in Maiduguri hailed residents of the region for keeping the peace in the face of the recent clashes between members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and soldiers in Abia State which posed threats to the lives of some northerners living in the Southeast.

    No Nigerian, according to them, deserves to be punished for the mere fact that he or she happens to be living or doing legitimate business in any part of the country.

    They acknowledged concerns ýover possible spill over of the Jos violence in parts of the North, and hailed Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State for dealing promptly with the problem.

    The governors asked all residents to   see themselves as equal citizens who have the same rights to freely live in any part of Nigeria as provided by the Constitution which the governors are under oath to preserve, protect and defend.

    The governors also called on all Nigerians to support and promote peace and coexistence, maintaining that the collective vision to have a greater and prosperous Nigeria can only be actualised under an atmosphere of peace and stability.

    They commiserated with Nigerians affected by the violence and asked northerners living in any part of the country to remain law abiding and calm saying they share in their concerns and will continually take lawful measures to support them under any circumstance the northerners find themselves.

  • Hard drug seller in police net

    Hard drug seller in police net

    A 42-year old illicit drug dealer, from Imo State, John Anukwueme, has been arrested by the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Lagos State Police Command.

    According to the officer in charge of SARS, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Ahmed Mohammed Sanusi, information came to him that Anukwueme used to sell expired and adulterated drugs to criminals who abuse the codeine in it as hard drug which gives them the effect of hard drug like cocaine which they take before carrying out their nefarious activities.

    Due to consistent public outcry for the damage the drug is causing to the health of the buyers and the patronage to the drug by undesirable elements, his operatives stormed his shop at Sarikiaro Street in Ikeja area of Lagos and arrested him and recovered a “Ghana-must-go” bag of the drugs.

    The recovered drug includes dozens of packets of Emzolyn with codeine, codeine cough syrup and Toxic-C capsules and syrup among others.

    Speaking on Thursday at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters, Ikeja, while being paraded by the new CP Edgal Oluwole Imohimi, the suspect Anukwueme said, “I started selling the drugs since six months ago in my shop at Seriki Aro Street in Ikeja. The drugs are not expired or fake. I bought the drugs to sell and make gain. I do not know what the buyers used to do with the drug after buying it. I did not know what the buyers abuse or used to the drug after buying it. I do not know anything about the abuse of the codeine in the drug by the buyers.

    ‘’The only offence I feel I committed is selling the drug to people without the doctor’s prescription. I used to buy one bottle of Emzolyn cough syrup or codeine cough syrup N700 (seven hundred naira) and sell it N1, 000 (one thousand naira). My gain there is only N300 per bottle. I do not know that buyers abuse the codeine in it by using it as hard drug.

    ‘’I was arrested on Wednesday evening when the police came to my shop. The drugs are not expired or fake. They are genuine drugs. The only thing is that I sold them without the doctors’ prescription. Nobody has died and nobody has complained of anything since I started selling the drug.’’

  • No tension in Kaduna, say govt, police

    No tension in Kaduna, say govt, police

    Kaduna State government and the police yesterday dispelled rumour of tension.

    There had been rumour from outside the state since Monday that Kaduna was on fire, making relations of residents to phone their loved ones.

    At a meeting with Igbo and Yoruba communities, Police Commissioner Agyole Abeh advised residents to go about their activities, as there was no crisis.

    He said: “There is no crisis in Kaduna. The state is peaceful. I advise people to go about their activities.

    “Don’t be apprehensive, the rumour is baseless and unfounded. Our men are ready to ensure a peaceful atmosphere.”

    Igbo and Yoruba community leaders, Chris Nnoli and Yinka Olapade, thanked the police boss for assuring them of safety.

    They blamed the social media for the rumour and assured the police that they would send the message to their people.

    Nnoli said: “I want to say without bias that Igbo are peace-loving people. They like to develop anywhere they live.

    “It is unfortunate that this rumour emanated from the social media. We want to tell our people that they should disregard the rumour because Kaduna is peaceful. We are law-abiding citizens.”

    The government assured residents of safety.

    A statement by spokesman for Governor Nasir El-Rufai, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, said the government and security agencies had taken action to protect life and property.

    The statement said: “Kaduna State government assures residents of their safety. The government and security agencies have taken action to secure life and property. Citizens should go about their lawful duties without let or hindrance.

    “The security situation is under constant review, including events that have taken place in other parts of the country. Our diverse communities will not be affected by negative activities that have taken place elsewhere.

    “Security agencies are staging shows of force and patrol as part of efforts to build confidence among citizens and deter mischief-makers.

    “The police and SSS are engaged in outreach to our communities to update them and provide reassurance.

    “Our traditional institutions have been alerted. They are engaging people in their domains to keep the peace.

     

  • No tension in Kaduna – Police

    No tension in Kaduna – Police

    Following rumoured tension and crisis against tribal communities, particularly Igbo community in Kaduna, Police as well as the State government on Thursday dispelled such rumour.

    There was rumour coming from outside the state since Monday that, Kaduna was on fire, with relations outside the State making frantic phone calls to their loved ones to authenticate the fact of the situation.

    However, in a meeting with Igbo and Yoruba communities in Kaduna, the State Commissioner of Police, Agyole Abeh advised every residents to go about their normal businesses as there was no such incident in the entire State.

    “There is no crisis in Kaduna, the state is peaceful, I advise everybody to open his shops as usual and do your business.

    “Don’t be apprehensive, the rumour is baseless and unfounded. Our men are at alert all the time to ensure peaceful atmospheres in the State,” Abeh said.

    Responding, both Igbo and Yoruba community leaders, Chris Nnoli and Yinka Olapade respectively thanked the Police boss for assuring them of safety of Kaduna residents.

    The two community leaders blamed social media for the unwarranted rumour, and assured the police that they will take the message back to their people that Kaduna is actually peaceful.

    “I want to say without bias that Igbo are peace loving people, and they like to bring development to anywhere they found themselves even better than where they come from.

    “It is unfortunate that this rumour emanated from the social media, but we want to tell our that they should disregard such rumour because Kaduna is peaceful and we are all law abiding citizens,” Nnoli said.

    Similarly, the State Government has assured all residents of their safety.

    A statement issued by the Spokesman to governor Nasir El-rufai, Mr. Samuel Aruwan said state government and the security agencies have taken appropriate action to protect life and property in the state.

    “The Kaduna State Government wishes to assure all residents of their safety. The state government and the security agencies have taken appropriate action to secure lives and property. Therefore, every citizen should go about their lawful duties, without let or hindrance.

    “The security situation is under constant review, including events that have taken place in other parts of the country. Our diverse communities will not be engulfed by negative conduct that has taken place elsewhere.

    “The security agencies are staging shows of force and patrols as part of the effort to build confidence among citizens and deter mischief-makers.

    “The police and the SSS are also engaged in outreach to our communities to update them and to provide reassurance.

    “Our traditional institutions have also been alerted, and they are engaging people in their domains to keep the peace.

    “Every resident must live up to their civic responsibilities, and must shun and report anyone seeking or urging reprisals against innocents.

    “The Kaduna State Government urges everyone to resist the temptation to take the law into their hands.

    “There should be no recourse to self-help in Kaduna State. It will not be tolerated and will be punished accordingly.

    “In times like these, every citizen is expected to do their duty to uphold peace and harmony.”

    “Government wishes to reiterate that it will not tolerate hate speech and incitement. Members of the public should verify information before they share. Kaduna State is peaceful.

    “No community or market is under attack, and robust efforts are being applied to maintain the peace”.

  • Police station attacked in Abia

    Police station attacked in Abia

    Unidentified persons have reportedly attacked the Ariaria Police Divisional Headquarters in the early hours of Friday.

    Information about the attack at the time of filing report is sketchy, though some sources said that there was no casualty.

    It was gathered that security have been beefed up at the Aba Area Command Headquarters and other Police Divisions in the commercial town when information about the attack filtered into the city.

    Detachment of policemen were seen at the road leading to the Area Command after it was cordoned off and Police rerouting cars heading towards that direction of the command.

    The Abia PPRO Geoffrey Ogbonna is yet to confirm the incident.