The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Police

  • Police arrest armed robbers at Savannah Bank building

    Six young men were arrested by a team of  anti- robbery policemen attached to the Area A Police Command, Lion Building while looting the properties of the distressed Savannah Bank on Lagos Island.

    The incident occurred yesterday at the Broad Street head office of the bank about 8.30 a.m.

    The suspects, who are all teenagers are Ibrahim Luka,  Kunle Malik,  Sheriff Lawal , Tnde Basiru,  Arif Sarumi, Lukman Ojikutu and  Fidelis Joshua.

    They were alleged to have been burgling the building for a very long time before the policemen swooped on them  following a tip-off from the angry residents.

    “Distress call was received from the Ikeja control room that some armed robbers were operating at Savannah Bank, Broad Street. The policemen stormed the area and these boys were arrested” said a police source.

    Residents of the area, who gathered at the crime scene, but would not want their names in the print, identified some of the boys who they said had  been tormenting residents of the area for a very long time.

    Some of the suspects  attacked  the policemen with cutlasses in an attempt to escape arrest upon the arrival of the policemen led by  Sgt. Mohammed  Akeem, but the police repelled the attack.

    Items recovered from the suspected armed robbers  included three cutlasses, one iron bar,  one iron saw  and some  cables.

    The suspects are now cooling their feet at the Area A Command where they are currently undergoing interrogation.

    Residents of the area commended the Area Commander, Imohimi Edgal, for the quick response of the policemen.

  • Police confirm arrest of 26 MASSOB members

    The Imo State Police Command confirmed  yesterday that the 26 members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), arrested last weekend by soldiers in Owerri for wearing the Biafran uniform, have been charged to court and  remanded at the Okigwe Prison.

    Police spokesman Andrew Enwerem had denied knowledge of the whereabouts of the men.

    But Police Commissioner Abdulmajid Ali, who spoke to reporters at the command’s headquarters, said the Army handed over the MASSOB members to the Police on Monday night and they had been charged to the Okigwe Customary Court.

    He said: “The MASSOB members were handed over to the Police by the Army on Monday night and we took them to court on Tuesday after preparing their charges. So the information that they are missing or that their whereabouts is unknown is untrue.”

  • Imo police crack down on ‘cultists’

    The Imo State Police Command have continued their clampdown on cultists and other criminal elements across the state with the recent arrest of 23 suspected cultists, who were rounded up during a nocturnal ceremony of various cult groups to initiate new members in a forest beside the dreaded “Okatangwu” River in Emii autonomous community, Owerri North Council Area of the state.

    The state in recent times has become the hotbed of cultist activities in the Southeast and South-South zone. This may not be unconnected to the number of Tertiary institutions within the state. For instance, Owerri, the state capital has about five higher institutions namely; the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Imo State University (IMSU), Federal Polytechnic Nekede and Imo State Polytechnic among others.

    Few weeks before the raid, over 18 people were hacked to death in broad daylight during a cult war. The rampaging cultists, who were heavily armed according to eye witness account, trailed the victims to different parts of the city where they were gunned down and decapitated with battle axe.

    The state Commissioner of Police, Abdulmajid Ali, thereafter declared a full scale war against cultism and all related criminal activities, with a clear order to shoot on sight against suspected cultists.

    Barely one month after the declaration, had the Police recorded a major breakthrough in with the successful raid of an initiation ceremony where large numbers of suspected cultists were arrested and various items recovered from them.

    The suspects aged between 19 to 32, were arrested after the Police stormed their hideout in the middle of the night following a tipoff.

    Parading the suspects who also confessed to be responsible for series of violent crimes, including armed robbery and kidnapping across the state, the Commissioner of Police, said they were arrested while carrying out initiation into the “Aye” fraternity.

    He said that the suspected cultists were arrested by the Operation of the Command’s Department of Criminal Investigation, who ambushed them in the middle of the initiation ceremony.

    The Commissioner of Police stated further that, items recovered from the cultists include three masquerade heads, one musical drum, 2 iron gongs, 2 local belts, charms, packets of candle and other initiation materials, adding that most of the suspects are students of institutions of higher learning from different states of the federation.

    He appealed to members of the public to always provide his men with useful information to fight criminals in the state, assuring that his Command would not relent in its efforts to rid the state of all criminal elements.

    The names of the suspects were given as Eto Uche, 26, Chinedu Azu, 26, Felix Ikenna 30, Uchenna Dike, 26, Chimaobi Uzoanya, 25, Udoyibo Innocent, 24, Omesurum Innocent, 24 and Nwadigo Henry 24.

    Others are Umunne Daniel, 26, Nwabuko Chigozie 22 and Igweoku Frank among others.

  • Police warn against provocative sermons

    Aba Area Commander of Nigeria Police Peter Wagbara has warned both Islamic and Christian preachers to guard against  using words that would incite  members of the public against one  another.

    Wagbara, in a joint meeting with some Muslim leaders and Apostle Jubril David, a Muslim-Christian convert reminded Islamic and Christian preachers that the essence of their calling was to preach and teach their adherents how to live a good moral life.Besides, they are to ensure they live in peace and harmony with their neighbours.

    While urging various religious bodies to continue living in peace with their neighbours, the Area Commander warned that his command would not tolerate any person or group of persons that would incite a religion against the other or cause breach of peace especially at a time when tension is high within the commercial city.

    According to the Aba Command Police Chief, Christianity and Islam are the two major religions whose teachings centered on peace, forgiveness and repentance which he said is expected to be the fulcrum of every teaching of any cleric.

    He, however, assured the Muslim and Christian communities including other Aba residents that police had beefed up security within the commercial city and its environs to ensure that lives and property  were protected.

    It was gathered that the meeting between the Muslim community and the pastor was called by the Area Commander after it was alleged that Apostle Jubril in a recent preaching  had used words that could incite the public against the Hausa/Fulani community in Aba.

  • Succour for police officers’ widows in Anambra

    Succour for police officers’ widows in Anambra

    There was enough relief materials meant for their well-being. Naturally, the mood of the recipients should be aglow. However, the environment was quiet as a grave yard.

    Instead of being happy for the gesture they were to receive, the wives of the police men, who died in active service in Awka, Anambra State were weeping profusely.

    The event was the show of goodwill to the widows of the police men who lost their lives while serving their fatherland by the wife of Anambra State Police Commissioner, Mrs. Asabe Gwary.

    Mrs. Gwary, who could not also control her emotions, said “only God knows why anything happens.”

    Some of the widows came with their children, while some of them who lost their husbands recently, wore all white to the event.

    The event took place at the Awka Area Command premises where items like wrappers, bags of beans, bags of rice and cartons of tomatoes, among others were distributed to them.

    Most of them who could not cry, especially those their husbands died long ago, wore long faces and intermittently, put up smiles on their faces.

    The gesture by Mrs. Gwary was done under the auspices of Police Officer’s Wives Association (POWA) in the state.

    Few of the beneficiaries who spoke with The Nation expressed happiness that such a thing was happening to them after a long wait.

    One of them who spoke to The Nation but did not want her name in print said, such items had been coming to them but those at the helm had been keeping them for their households until Mrs. Gwary came.

    But, for Mrs. Joy Alloysius, who lost the husband about five years ago, commended the wife of the police commissioner for remembering the widows of the police men.

    She said that it was the first time there were being recommended by the association and commended Mrs. Gwary for being what she called a through mother.

    Also, Mrs. Jane Ogbonna, said “this our mummy’s gesture has shown us that individuals are different in this world, we have children and since our husbands died, we have been living from hand to mouth.”

    “I was surprised when I was told that our CP’s wife wanted to see us, initially, I thought whether I have offended anybody to deserve any form of punishment until I summoned courage to come.”

    “This is too much and I have no mouth to thank the wife of our commissioner, all I have to tell her is that she will never encounter any form of problem.”

    “For her to still remember that there are some people like us who are suffering some where, means that human milk flows in her veins and she will not leave to regret her action,“ she said.

    Speaking with The Nation, “Mrs. Asabe Gwary, who was accompanied on the journey by the wife of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, in charge of operations, Mrs. Nkiraharami Yakadi, said the action has not concluded.

    According to her, “they should see their plight as not the worst, God giveth and God taketh, as far as we are in this command, they will never lack.”

    She said the fact that they lost their husbands while serving the country was not the end of their lives and that of their children.

    “Some of them have their young families to take care of, while some had lost their husbands long ago, but as far as God continues to give us life, they will not have much to regret.”

    “Yes, it is sad to lose one’s loved one, but only God knows why such things happened when they did, but my assurance to the widows is that God will not forsake them,” she said.

    Furthermore, Mrs. Gwary said it was done to tell the widows that all hopes were not lost despite the fact that their husbands were no longer alive.

    The Nation gathered that some of the widows lost their husbands either in the hands of kidnappers, armed robbers or hired assassins in the state in their cause of crime fighting.

  • Police arrest son for killing SAN dad at Redemption Camp

    Police arrest son for killing SAN dad at Redemption Camp

    Why did a young man hack his father to death? This is s question the Ogun State Police are battling to resolve after arresting a 21-year old man, Tolani Ajayi, for allegedly killing his Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) father, Mr Charles Ajayi, at the Redemption Camp on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

    He was killed last Thursday.

    Tolani is a 300-level student of the  Department of History and International Relations of Redeemer University (RUN), Ogun State.

    Police Public Relations Officer Mr Olumuyiwa Adejobi said the body was “recovered in a nearby bush at Canaan land Street within the RCCG Camp, in a box, after he had been hacked to death by his son”.

    Adejobi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), added: “The Divisional Police Officer, Redemption Camp,  Mr Olaiya Martins, led a team of detectives and some members of the community who noticed the strange attitude of the suspect while dropping a box to the point where the body of the SAN was dumped and, thereafter,  traced  the ground  marks of the dragged box from where  the suspect  dumped the dad’s body to the house of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, where they met the suspect in a relaxed mood  in the house.

    “Upon interrogation, the suspect earlier lied that his dad had gone on evangelism before he eventually confessed to the crime when he was taken to the Redemption Camp Divisional Headquarters. He stated further that the problem arose when his late father confronted him for not responding to all the prayer points he (the deceased) was calling and the late father slapped him.

    “He said he went mad and went straight  to the kitchen to pick up a knife to stab him and later a cutlass to cut his throat and killed him. The exhibits, including the knife and cutlass he used in killing his father, have been recovered by the police and the body of the SAN have been deposited at a morgue in Sagamu.”

  • Police burst car-snatching syndicate

    Police burst car-snatching syndicate

    A member of a notorious car snatching syndicate that specialised in forcing their victims to withdraw money for them through Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) has been arrested by the police in Lagos. The suspect, Wasiu Taiwo, said his gang snatched over 50 exotic vehicles in less than five months, besides forcing their victims to withdraw millions of naira from their accounts. The DECOY Team of the State Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the state police command intercepted the gang. The Nation learnt that the police team intercepted the robbers last Thursday night in Ejigbo after they had snatched a Honda Accord car and took the victim to an ATM where they collected his money. Wasiu was arrested while three others jumped out of the car when the decoy team closed in on them. Police sources said: “When the robbers noticed the police team, they started driving recklessly and operatives suspected them and gave them a chase. Three of the suspects opened the doors of the vehicle and jumped out. Operatives did not shoot at them because they were not sure they were armed robbers. One of them who was arrested is helping investigators to trail his fleeing accomplices”. Taiwo confessed that his gang had been terrorising residents for months, adding that most of the vehicles they snatched were moved across the border where they are sold to some car dealers. He said: “Whenever we snatched the vehicles, we would take their owners along in case there were security devices in the vehicles which we might not be able to operate. Besides, we took our victims to the banks where we forced them to withdraw money with their ATM cards for us; then, we would take them to a distance where we dropped them off. “Since we started, we have snatched over 50 cars and we sold most of them across the border where we have our receivers. We still have some of our buyers here in Lagos”. Police sources disclosed that the suspect was being detained in the SARS’ custody, adding that investigations were ongoing.

  • Soldier’s stabbing generates furore in Bayelsa

    The stabbing of a Lance Corporal attached to the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Pulo Shield, by a commercial sex worker has generated furore in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

    The JTF in a statement signed by its Media Coordinator, Lt. Col. Mustapha Anka, claimed that none of its soldiers was stabbed by a prostitute.

    Anka in the statement alleged that the media misrepresented the matter, describing the report as malicious, misleading and lacking in objectivity and credibility.

    But further investigation revealed that the soldier was actually stabbed by a commercial sex worker at a red-light district popularly called Hospital Road junction.

    It was, however, found that the soldier was still recuperating at one of the hospitals in Yenagoa.

    An eyewitness said the soldier’s life was saved by a detachment of the police who immediately took the soldier to the hospital after arresting the lady.

    The source who pleaded anonymity further gave details of the incident.

    She said: “The entire problem started when a soldier approached one of the commercial sex workers and negotiated for overnight sex. He offered to pay the lady N1, 500 but the lady insisted on N2, 000.

    “Shortly after that, another guy came and offered a higher price which the lady accepted. When the lady wanted to go with the new guy, she suddenly started looking for her handset.

    “She asked the soldier whether he saw the missing handset. The soldier who felt he had been jilted became angry and started beating the girl. The girl took a knife and stabbed the soldier in his stomach.”

    The source said the intestines of the soldier gorged out after the stabbing, adding that the soldier should appreciate the police for rescuing him.

    Also, a top police source corroborated the eyewitness’ report, saying the prostitute was in police custody.

    The police source who pleaded anonymity also said the JTF wrote to the commissioner of Police, Mr. Hilary Opara, requesting him to transfer the suspect to it for questioning.

    JTF reportedly promised to return the lady to the police after its investigation.

    The source said: “The commissioner, however, declined the request and asked the JTF to come to the police command and conduct its interrogation. The soldier was in danger when the police rescued him. We even took the photograph of the incident.”

     

  • Police, protesters clash as World Cup kicks off

    Police, protesters clash as World Cup kicks off

    Riot police carrying massive plastic shields and dressed head to toe in body armour clashed with thousands of demonstrators in downtown São Paulo near the Carrão station yesterday morning. Security forces fired tear gas into the crowd with many protesters injured.

     “A bomb went off literally one meter from me and exploded right on my leg,” Bernard, a protester who refused to provide his last name. “We were doing nothing, we were just in front of them.”

     Police fired flash bang grenades and tear gas into the crowd of about 200 protesters about 15 kilometers from the stadium which hosted the opening match of the World Cup.

     A number of the protesters, angered at the spending for World Cup projects, were injured in the melee in a confrontation with the civil police of São Paulo, who protesters said “were out of control.”

    The protests continued later in the morning as workers from the city’s metro workers union and members of Brazil’s communist party clashed at the Tauapé train station.

     Demonstrators lit fires in the street to crest a barrier between themselves and civil police forces firing more tear gas and rubber bullets into the group.

     Police and military forces had been on standby to address any disruptions that threaten to mar the kickoff of the 2014 World Cup betwen host nation Brazil and Croatia.

     Security has been one of the major concerns for the Brazilian government, as an estimated 3.7 million visitors descend on the South American nation for the world’s largest sporting event. Officials have deployed 170,000 security forces, including federal troops, police and private security guards, to the host cities – more boots on the ground than the U.S. had during the height of the Iraq war – but strikes and demonstrations and fears of violent crime still loom over the tournament.

     “There are always security considerations when you have urban areas that aren’t used to having a concentration of people over a short amount of time and also where passions run so high,” Cynthia Arnson, director of the Latin American Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told Fox News Latino.

    The Brazilian government has not skimped on the cost of protecting fans and citizens during the Cup, spending $855 million on security measures alone – five times more than the $175 million South Africa spent when it hosted the tournament four years ago.

     And the security investment can be seen and heard in host cities across Brazil.

     Naval vessels patrol the beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro, and police helicopters are on constant patrol over the city. In São Paulo, a heavy police presence has been established in tourist zones in an effort to deter protesters from disrupting any of the festivities surrounding the opening ceremony and Brazil-Croatia match.

     The country’s defence ministry has Army, Navy and Air Force personnel on high alert for any disturbances and has declared the air space within an 11-mile radius of the stadiums a no-fly zone from an hour before matches up to four hours following the games.

     “We hope there are no incidents during FIFA World Cup activities, but we have taken precautions and are prepared to do our part,” Celso Amorim, Brazil’s defence minister said in a press release. “The integration between Defence and the Ministry of Justice is one of the pillars of this plan.”

     Besides the stadiums, Brazilian law enforcement has also stepped up its security measures at major tourist attractions. At Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue, the city’s municipal guard has added people to help protect the estimated 5,000 people who visit the hilltop site every day.

    “We are taking many precautions to make sure everyone who comes here is safe and enjoys their stay here,” Jorge Murta da Silva, a spokesman for Rio de Janeiro’s municipal guard told Fox News Latino.

     Petty crime, however, is still an issue in the city, with the area leading up to the statue being particularly dicey.

     “We got mugged the other day hiking up the trail,” Suzanne McGavin of Australia, told FNL. “They took all our money and our cameras.”

     The massive security spending – along with the enormous costs of building the stadiums and facilities to host the World Cup – is part of the reason why so many angry Brazilians have taken to the streets in the run-up to the tournament.

     The protests that began in earnest last year around the time of the FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil, and have diminished in size but not in frequency.

     In Rio de Janeiro on Monday, the city’s teachers took to the streets in front of the World Cup’s media headquarters to protest low wages; subway workers briefly threatened a walkout and on Wednesday demonstrating taxi drivers blocked a section of Copacabana, causing major traffic congestion.

     Also on Wednesday, check-in counter clerks, baggage handlers and janitorial staff who have been demanding raises of at least 5.6 percent for several months voted to strike. The work stoppage will affect Rio’s Galeao international airport as well as the Santos Dumont airport, which connects Rio to other Brazilian cities.

     The airport strike came only hours after some 1,500 subway workers in the city voted against going back on strike over a pay dispute. They had suspended their walkout on Monday amid a popular backlash and government pressure.

      In the northern city of Natal, where the United States plays its first game on Monday against Ghana, bus drivers seeking a 16 percent pay increase will stay home Thursday for at least 24 hours.

     “The World Cup provided a kind of synthesis for all of these different issues, partly because the World Cup is a national tournament so the stadiums are going up everywhere,” Dave Zirin, author of “Brazil’s Dance With the Devil: The World Cup, the Olympics and the Fight for Democracy,” told FNL.

     “Every community had a bone to pick and say, ‘Well, wait a minute. Why are hundreds of millions of dollars being poured into this stadium when we have these particular needs?’”

     Some experts, however, argue that the unrest in the final hours before the World Cup starts will not hinder the celebration. Citing the problems that Russia faced before hosting the Winter Olympics earlier this year in Sochi, the Wilson Center’s Arnson said that despite the issues of security and infrastructure Brazil will be able to successfully host the Cup and eventually the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

     “I think it was an enormous honor for Brazil to be chosen as the site for the World Cup 2014 and also as the site for the Olympics in 2016,” Arnson said.

     “And there are going to be many rough spots, but, at the end of the day, I think that the games will show Brazil as a country that is struggling on many fronts, but also has many capacities, as well as a vibrant culture, and a vibrant democracy.”

     Demonstrations have been ongoing since last June as Brazilians vent their anger against £7bn to the Brazilian taxpayer, drawing more than a million people into the streets at their peak. It is not hard to see why, the poorest third of people in Brazil receive less than 1.2 per cent of the national income.

     Though several of the most high-profile protest leaders have said they will respect the players and the 60,000 fans who have travelled to the tournament and cease their protests, a hardcore angry nucleus remains, with Facebook groups calling for a march on the Sao Paulo arena ahead of the game, evading police by using thoroughfares intended for VIPs.

     “If the protesters try to keep fans from arriving, the situation could get ugly,” one official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. “Police will keep the roads open, I guarantee.”

     Still, the protesters could find that if violence flares during the tournament that brings humiliation to the country and its five-time-winners, public support will dwindle. At its peak, 89 per cent of people supported the social justice protests, now that support has waned to around 50 per cent.

    Brazil’s beefed-up police force has been given more muscle than Hulk. More than 150,000 are on the streets of the 12 host cities. Roughly a dozen protest leaders were taken to police stations to provide “information” on planned disruption, according to reports, but none were arrested or detained.

     Human rights groups have expressed concern at the clampdown. Atila Roque, Director at Amnesty Brazil, said: “Brazil’s deficient policing record, reliance on the military to police demonstrations, lack of training and an atmosphere of impunity creates a dangerous cocktail in which the only losers are peaceful protesters.

     “The 2014 World Cup will be a crucial test for authorities in Brazil. They must use this opportunity to step up their game and ensure the security forces policing demonstrations during the tournament refrain from committing any more human rights violations.”

     The protests have not been the only plague on the organisers. Because of lengthy delays and the tragic deaths of several workers, the new arena has never been match-tested at full capacity. Reporters on the ground claim that electrical work and lighting was still being installed last night.

  • Man caught with ‘fresh’ human head in Lagos

    Jude Isiguzo

    Operatives of the Lagos State Police Command on Wednesday arrested a man in possession of suspected human skull.

    The suspect, Mustapha Bakare (38) was arrested at the Orile area by policemen attached to the force anti-robbery squad.

    Police spokesperson, Ngozi Braid, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP) confirmed the arrest of the suspect.

    She said the police team arrested the suspect during a “stop and search” operation near white sand area of Orile.

    Braid said: “While the team was on duty at White sand area of Orile, a man of about38-year-old, later known as Mustapha Bakare of 63B Church Street, Ijora Badia was sighted with a polythene bag. The team suspected him and immediately called for a search. He immediately took to his heels and was pursued.

    He arrested and during search of his bag, a fresh human skull was found. The suspect was arrested and currently undergoing interrogation. He’ll be transferred to the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID) Panti, for further investigations.”