The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Police

  • Edo Police arrest 14 JSS students’ cultists

    Police in Benin have arrested 14 Junior Secondary School (JSS) students over their alleged involvement in cult-related activities in Benin City.

    The students whose age ranges between 12 and 15 were picked when a crack team of policemen stormed Oguola Secondary School, Saint –Saviour, Benin City, last Thursday.

    Dependable sources hinted our reporter that the teenage suspected cultists are being screened at the state criminal Investigation Department, SCID, police headquarters, Benin City.

    Principal of the school, Mr. Ehanire Reuben said that eight of the students were nabbed at flash spots in the school compound.

    He stated that their arrest prompted the police team to conduct a search on some students in the classrooms.

    Mr. Ehanire added that items believed to be emblems of notorious cult groups in Edo State were recovered from them.

    He however, maintained that reports made against the students by some parents may have triggered the raid.

    He also disclosed that prior to the onslaught; he was told that a student teacher in the school was attacked as his phone and wallet were taken by some students who equally attacked other persons in the area.

    Mr. Ehanire appealed to the police command to release those found to be innocent.

    The Spokesman for Edo police command, DSP Stephen Onwochei stated that the raid on the school followed a tip-off.

    DSP Onwochei said that though those arrested were underage, the paraphernalia found on the students called for proper investigation.

    He maintained that the police command would not leave any stone unturned in its renewed war against cultism and other crimes in Edo.

  • Police recover Card Readers, laptops in Abia

    The Zone 9 Police Command in Umuahia yesterday recovered five additional Card Readers and two laptops, allegedly belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), from Amoba Housing Estate, Old Umuahia, Abia State.

    Reacting to the incident, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Selina Oko said Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) of Police Usman Gwary informed her of the development.

    “The AIG called me this morning (yesterday) to come and inspect some materials that were recovered. I told him I was not in Umuahia, and that I would come to inspect them when I return.”

    Sources said the items were recovered from a location close to the residence of an INEC official who is currently in police custody.

    Police spokesman Emmanuel Jiakponna said he was not aware of the development.

    Herbert Ejiofor and Nnamdi Nwabuko, workers in the Information Communication Technology Department of Abia INEC, were arrested for allegedly trying to remove electoral materials from the office.

    Six other workers were later arrested and interrogated by the police in connection with the foiled attempt but were released.

     

  • NAFDAC, police to check hawking of unauthorised herbal medicine

    You see them in their buses and all that; as if to say: ok the masters have gone in, lets us come and have our field’s day.

    The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says it will collaborate with the police to check hawking of unauthorised herbal medicine.

    The Coordinator of the agency in Anambra, Dr Christiana Esenwah, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Onitsha, Anambra, on Monday.

    She said that the activities of the hawkers constituted noise pollution to the residents of the state and embarrassment to the agency.

    Esenwah said that the hawkers had remained undaunted even after many of them were arrested, sanctioned and fined by the agency.

    She also said that the recent upward review of the administrative charges and tariffs for operating herbal medicine outlets had not deterred them.

    “We have observed that most of their activities have been reduced to after-hours (after office hours), that is after 4 o’clock (p.m.), that is when you see them really on the move.

    “They know that between the hours 8 and 4, we are active; so by the time we are closing at about 5 or 6, you see them coming out in (their) numbers.

    “Even in my home, when you come out; unfortunately I can’t work when I have closed; when I am resting in my home that is when you hear the loudest noise.

    “You see them in their buses and all that; as if to say: ok the masters have gone in, lets us come and have our field’s day.

    “It is so annoying; and we feel we need to get security agents; we need to go a step further, there are people who operate shifts; I mean the security agents who operate shifts.

    “I think we can work in collaboration with them; since these people have seen that once we close from work, it is time for them to operate; we too should go a step further to see that we can get these people.’’

    Esenwah stated that the agency would increase its monitoring of the state, by expanding the scope of NAFDAC Consumer Safety Clubs (NCSC) in secondary schools from 42 to 52 before the end of the year.

    According to her, the establishment of the clubs in schools is to create awareness and to educate the students on the dangers of using counterfeit drugs at an early age.

  • Police bust three-man gang

    Police bust three-man gang

    A three-man car-snatching gang has been smashed by the Lagos State Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

    Amuche Chukwuemeka, 23; Blessing Idotie, 26, and Enwelikwu Santos Peter, 25, were caught after a February 4 operation at De Heaven Club on 1st Avenue, Festac, Lagos about 9.28pm.

    They were said to have snatched Anthony Okeke’s Toyota Highlander Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) marked AKD 91 AN.

    “As he went to urinate, the three suspects sighted him and waited for him to come back to his vehicle. As he made to enter the vehicle, one of the suspects, Chukwuemeka, blocked him, pointed a gun at him and ordered him to cooperate if he did not want to be shot dead. The two others entered with the man. The man sat between Idotie and Peter while Chukwuemeka took over the steering and headed to Second Rainbow, Festac Town. They gave the man N1000 for transport after collecting all his money and pushed him out. They also collected two ATM cards with their pin numbers,” said a police source.

    On their way to Onitsha, in Anambra State, the vehicle developed a fault on the Sagamu/Benin Express road. To get money to repair the vehicle, they were said to have used their victim’s ATM card to withdraw N20,000 in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.

    Luck ran out for the suspects  when some soldiers flagged them down for routine checks and found a pistol on them.

    A relation of Okeke, who was aware that the vehicle was snatched, sighted it with the soldiers on his way to Onitsha and informed him.

    When the suspects could not explain how they came about the SUV, they were taken to Ijebu Ode Police Station from where they were transferred to Eleweran Police Headquarters in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

    Chukwuemeka, who hails from Umuguma in Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State, said he is a student of the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Owerri, Imo State capital, studying Electrical/Electronic Engineering.

    He said: “My mother is in Lagos, while father stays in Abuja. It is 15 years now my parents divorced and we are two boys and one girl. I live in Festac with my mother at 1st Avenue H Close and she is a teacher. I am the gang leader.”

    He added: “Three of us sat down at Premier Hotel, Maza Maza and decided to snatch a car. I provided the gun that I bought from a cultist named Cigairo. I told him that if he gave me a gun, I would join his cult Buccaneers. I paid him N15,000 to rent the gun. We went to Heaven Club, sat down opposite the hotel and observed the man. We did not know the man before. He parked and went to urinate. When he came back, I pointed the gun at him. Peter pushed him inside the car. We collected N5000 plus two ATM cards and phones and later gave him N1000 to find his way while we proceeded to the East with the jeep. We were arrested by soldiers when our vehicle developed fault along Ijebu-Ode road. We were transferred to Ijebu Ode.

    “Later, we were moved to Eleweran and Festac Division. I fainted because they promised us that we would not be taken to Lagos SARS. I became a robber as a result of efforts to get money and continue my education as my father abandoned us.”

    Idotie, who hails from Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, said: “It was Chukwuemeka who handed his gun to me when he took over the steering. I knew Peter as a footballer. I put the victim between myself and Peter.

    The third suspect, Peter, said, “I am from Kwale in Ndokwa South of Delta State. I play football. My father is late and we are four girls and a boy. I am the only son. We live in a one-room apartment and flood used to disturb us and we could not look for another room because of financial incapacitation. Even, we did not have enough money to feed. My sisters that are married are not finding life easy and they are suffering also. I am the fourth in my family.

  • Police discover fraud in sales of Fed Govt’s houses

    Police discover fraud in sales of Fed Govt’s houses

    THE police have unearthed a massive fraud allegedly being perpetrated by officials of the Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC) on Sale of Government Properties.

    They reportedly utilise phony companies to defraud members of the public interested in buying any Federal Government property being offered for sale.

    A team of investigators at the Police Special Fraud Unit (SFU), Lagos made the discovery while investigating a petition by a company, Multiplication Global Trade Limited.

    The investigators, in a report, a copy of which The Nation sighted yesterday, revealed how some officials  of the PIC, working with some cronies outside the committee, defraud tenants by denying them the right to buy such houses, contrary to the government’s laid down procedure for selling the property. They then offer the houses for sale to members of the public at inflated prices.

    They said the method was recently deployed in relation to the sale of the property identified as No 6, Ruxton Street and No 3, Rumens Road (both in Ikoyi), Lagos.

    The investigators stated that their “discreet investigations reveal that there actually exists a cabal within the PIC, whose modus operandi” is described below:

    “As soon as sitting tenants of any government property expresses interest to buy their flats in accordance with government policy and the PIC has profiled such tenants and found them qualified, the information about such property is immediately passed to members of this cabal, who would approach the tenants and make offers to buy the property off their interests at very ridiculous rates, usually between N10 million and N12 million maximum per flat, with subtle threats and intimidation that either they accept or they shall be disqualified.

    “The tenants are usually informed that they must all make payments for their respective flats together as one. Having succeeded in putting sufficient fear in the tenants, they are now compelled (the tenants) to give a joint letter of authority to the supposed buyer to deal exclusively on their behalf with the PIC and pay on their behalf the offer price. Sometimes, the tenants are paid even before the offer letter is issued.”

    “This modus (operandi) was recently deployed to intimidate the present occupants of No 6, Ruxton Street, Ikoyi, Lagos and in the process several high ranking police officers have been maligned as having interest in the property,” the investigators said.

    They added that, on further investigation, they found that any member of the cabal being used for any property, without paying a dime to government purse, was allowed to source for buyers using the offer letter of the PIC and because the properties were usually in choices areas, buyers were easy to find.

    They added that when a buyer is found for a price that usually doubles the government offer price, usually ranging between N650 million to as much as N900 million for Ikoyi property, such a buyer is then instructed to raise drafts in the name of PIC on behalf of each tenant for the value of the offer price while the balance goes to the member of the cabal that has been assigned that property to handle and consequently shared.

    “This was the exact modus that has been deployed in respect of No 3, Rumens Road, Ikoyi, Lagos where the instructions for the distribution of the N670 million was handed to the petitioner,” the police investigators said.

    They recommended further investigation, particularly compelling some identified officials of the PIC found to have engaged in corrupt practices and abuse of office to provide needed information.

  • Police, motorcyclists clash in Ogun

    Police, motorcyclists clash in Ogun

    Commercial activities at the Abeokuta Central Business District (CBD), Oke-Ilewo, were disrupted yesterday, following a clash between the police and hundreds of protesting commercial motorcyclists.

    Banks, eateries, telephone booths and scores of businesses operating at the CBD hurriedly closed, as the angry commercial motorcyclists vandalised property, attacking policemen and residents.

    The operators, who blocked the Lalubu Road, Oke-Ilewo, with scores of motorcycles, were protesting the killing of a man, who they thought was their colleague, by a bullion van.

    The bullion van driver was said to be recklessly negotiating the OPIC circle within the CBD when the   accident occurred.

    The Nation gathered that motorcyclists and sympathisers were appalled by the alleged “callous attitude” of the policemen attached to the van, who were said to have dragged the body of the victim from under the van, dumped it in a gutter and sped off.

    The protest, which caught many motorists and visitors unaware, caused a gridlock that spanned over five hours. Some vehicles trapped in the troubled district were vandalised.

    A combined team of soldiers and policemen drafted to the area laboured to contain the protesters with “minimal force”, shooting canisters of teargas to disperse them.

    The driver was arrested and his bullion van impounded; over 70 motorcycles used to block the road were also impounded.

    An eyewitness said the 22-year-old victim was a carpenter, adding that he rode his brother’s motorcycle to Oke-Ilewo to buy a memory card.

    He said the motorcyclists mistook him for one of them and went on the rampage.

    Police spokesman Olumuyiwa Adejobi said the driver and some protesters had been arrested.

    Adejobi said: “A bullion van driver attached to a new generation bank hit a motorcyclist. Sympathisers started protesting and attacking policemen. They vandalised vehicles and attacked residents too.

    “The protesters took the law into their hands, hauling stones and other objects at police officers. We have to apply minimum force to disperse them to evacuate the body. We arrested the driver and impounded the van.

    “The driver is not a policeman and we will ensure that justice is served. We heard that the people were angered because the policemen attached to the bullion van dragged the motorcylist from under the bullion van and dumped him in a gutter.

    “We don’t encourage callousness or impunity in the police and we are going to look into that allegation critically.

    “We are advising the public to shun jungle justice as you cannot correct one misdeed with another misdemeanour.”

  • Police kill three robbery suspects in Ibadan

    Police kill three robbery suspects in Ibadan

    The police in Oyo State have killed three robbery suspects in Ibadan, the state capital.

    The incident occurred at Idi-Ayunre axis of Ibadan-Ijebu Ode Road in Oluyole Local Government Area on April 23 at 11 pm.

    Addressing reporters yesterday, the Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Katsina, said several robbery suspects escaped with injuries.

    According to him, items recovered from the suspects included two wooden guns wrapped with black cellotape, cutlass, gold jewellery, cash and two torches.

    The police boss described the suspects as “a gang of itinerant dare-devil robbers, who terrorised traders, commuters and other road users in Idi-Ayunre. They maimed innocent citizens and dispossessed them of money and other valuables”.

    Katsina, who was represented by the police spokesman, Adekunle Ajisebutu, said: “However, with the help of our intelligence network, the command’s Ambush Squad, comprising well-trained personnel from Idi-Ayunre,  swooped on them during an operation on April 23.

    “During the gun battle, three were killed and others escaped with injuries.”

    Katsina urged hospitals and traditional healing homes to report to the police anyone with bullet wounds.

    A victim, Jayeola Olawuyi, told policemen how the robbers attacked him and his wife when they were travelling from Ibadan to Ijebu-Ode.

    Olawuyi said: “We ran into a barricade formed by the bandits. We were dispossessed of money and jewellery. They left us with machete cuts.

  • Senator’s police guard beats up cabbie

    Senator’s police guard beats up cabbie

    It was like a scene from a horror movie. In Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Saturday night, a riot policeman on guard duty at the home of Senator Azuta Mbata, battered a taxi driver, Mr. Peace Ezekiel, with dagger and rifle.

    Ezekiel, who was rushed to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), is in a critical condition.

     His ash colour taxi cab, Mazda 323, has been moved to the Ozuoba Police Station on NTA-Choba Road.

    Mbata represented Rivers East for two terms in 1999 and 2003, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Narrating his ordeal yesterday, the taxi driver said: “I was stabbed with dagger many times by one of the mobile policemen guarding Senator Azuta Mbata’s home at Mgbuoba, Port Harcourt. The policeman also used his dagger to cut the front tyre by the driver’s side.

    “I picked up a woman passenger on Peter Odili Road and I dropped her after Senator Mbata’s house at 9:45 pm. on Saturday. As I was reversing, the MOPOL rushed to me with  a dagger and gun. He shot into the air and said I flashed my light on his face. The MOPOL threatened to kill me, forced me out of the taxi and stabbed me with dagger many times. My shout attracted residents, passers-by and the woman I came to drop. Three policemen on guard at the Senator’s home also came. But before they showed up, the MOPOL had cut one of the tyres of my taxi.

    “The other policemen tried to intervene, but the MOPOL continued to beat and drag me on the ground, with my clothes stained with blood. The woman I came to drop, other residents and passers-by witnessed the brutality. We were begging, but the MOPOL ignored us. The three policemen first took me to a nearby clinic, they kept knocking the gate, but the owner did not open. We went to a pharmaceutical shop, but the owner said I should be taken to UPTH.

    “The sympathisers rushed me to UPTH, after reporting at Ozuoba Police Station. I am with the medical report. Some policemen later went to the scene and moved my taxi to Ozuoba Police Station. The Investigating Police Officer (IPO) said on Sundaymorning that the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) was busy and could not see me. The IPO asked me to return to the police station on Monday (today). The policemen are trying to protect the MOPOL.”

    The driver, who was in great pains, called on the Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase, to intervene in the matter, and ensure justice.

    Police spokesman Muhammad Kidaya Ahmad confirmed the incident on telephone yesterday.

    Ahmad said: “The investigation is on. I contacted the DPO (of Ozuoba Police Station), but he said the policemen denied the incident.

    “The DPO confirmed that the matter was reported and that the complainant (Ezekiel) came to the police station with wound on his body. DPO promised to continue with the investigation. Whoever commits the offence will be dealt with, according to the law. Nobody is above the law.”

  • DIG, four AIGs, seven CPs for polls in Abia, Imo, Taraba

    DIG, four AIGs, seven CPs for polls in Abia, Imo, Taraba

    The Nigeria Police have deployed Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), four Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIGs), and seven Commissioners of Police for Saturday’s election in Abia, Imo and Taraba States.

    A statement Friday by the Force spokesman, Emmanuel Ojukwu said a DIG, an AIG and two Commissioners of Police had been deployed in Abia State.

    Similarly, an Assistant Inspector-General of Police and three Commissioners of Police are to oversee the election in Imo State.

    Two Assistant Inspectors-General of Police and two Deputy Commissioners of Police had been deployed in Taraba State for the same purpose.

    The police authorities however, did not disclose the identities of the officers so deployed.

    The police enjoined citizens in the affected states to remain vigilant and report all suspicious movements or dealings to appropriate the police authorities.

    The statement added: “As part of efforts to ensure adequate security, the Inspector-General of Police, Ag. IGP Solomon E. Arase, has ordered restriction on vehicular movements in local government areas in Abia, Delta, Imo, Kogi and Taraba States where rerun of the ongoing general elections are scheduled to take place on Saturday, 25th of April, 2015 between the hours of 08.00am to 5.00pm.

    “This restriction of vehicular movements order affects movements in and out of the areas where the rerun elections are to take place, except for Ambulances, Fire Service Trucks and others on essential duties.

    “Consequently, travelers and citizens who intend to ply roads within those hours are advised to plan alternative routes.

    “The IGP also warns government officials and political office holders not to go to polling units with uniformed orderlies or aides, while persons who have no business with voting must not be found within 300 metres of a polling unit.

    “The police high command has also put adequate security measures in place by the deployments of additional senior officers to supervise security of elections in the states.”

  • Rivers: Police arrests 104 persons for election offences – PRO

    The Rivers Police Command said on Sunday that its officers have arrested 104 persons for election-related offences in the state.

    The Public Relations Officer of the Command, Mr Ahmad Muhammad, a DSP, said in a statement in Port Harcourt that the police had begun investigating 41 different cases involving the suspects.

    “The Command is discreetly investigating 41 different cases involving 104 suspects arrested on election days from different parts of the state,’’ he said.

    Muhammad said the suspects were arrested for alleged offences against the Electoral Act 2010 or other extant laws of the country.

    “Items recovered from the suspects included multiple Permanent Voter Cards (PVC), offensive weapons and electoral materials, including ballot papers and boxes,’’ he said.

    He added that the suspects would be charged to court on completion of investigations.