The Nation Newspaper

Tag: SCID

  • ‘Profile your domestic workers’

    ‘Profile your domestic workers’

    The State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Yaba, Lagos State, has urged employers to bring employees in for a comprehensive profiling process to decrease crimes committed by domestic staff.

    Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the SCID, DCP Waheed Ayilara, stated this during a media tour of the SCID by security stakeholders. According to him, profiling domestic workers would help authorities track and monitor these individuals. He added that employers will have a better understanding of their staff and be well-prepared to handle any potential problems.

    He said: “People who have domestic staffs can bring them here for profiling. Even if they are not criminals, we will have them on record. We will have their pictures, fingerprints, National Identification Number (NIN) and drivers’ license. Everything will be taken care of, so in case they misbehave and think they can run away, they can be tracked.”

    Read Also: Two policemen, eight IPOB members died in Umuahia SCID attack – CP

    DCP Ayilara added that to ensure efficiency of the operation, a partnership had been established with the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) to exchange data and monitor criminals who attempt to exit the country.

    He also addressed the stigma against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the SCID, explaining that the prejudice followed historical and social circumstances. He, however, appealed for a change ‘since the police force is a reflection of society’.

    Coordinator of the stakeholders’ forum, Chima Nnaji, said media tour was to raise awareness on the department’s efforts to investigate crime, while maintaining morality and human rights.

    “It is the duty of civil society members to appreciate and support them, not necessarily through monetary means, but by recognising and acknowledging their efforts. When crime goes unchecked to the point where society can no longer sleep peacefully, it affects all of us.” he said.

  • Dad, daughter arrested over grandson’s death

    The police have arrested a man and his daughter over the death of his 10-year-old grandson in Ikorodu, Lagos.

    A source at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the grandfather and the boy’s mother were nabbed for allegedly disposing the body without the knowledge of the father.

    NAN gathered that the late Abdullah, the only child of his parents, fell ill and died while in the mother’s custody.

    The woman was living in her father’s house in Ikorodu when the incident happened.

    “When the child was ill, they did not inform the father. When the child died, they did not inform him, rather, the grandfather told a scavenger to help dispose the body.

    “When the child’s father demanded to see his son, he was told that the child had died. He asked for the body, they told him that he had been buried at a cemetery.

    “The father reported the case to the police. When the police asked the grandfather to take the operatives to the spot of burial at the cemetery, he could not do so.

    “The grandfather and his daughter have a case to answer. They will be arraigned for conspiracy and indecent behaviour,” a police source told NAN.

    Contacted, command spokesman Bala Elkana said he was yet to be briefed.

     

  • Customs probes acid bath case

    Customs probes acid bath case

    Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko Inde CFR, has ordered a full investigation into an allegation of acid bath on one Ms.Tope Fadipe by one Nwaeze Fidelix  Chukwuemeka, a Chief Superintendent of Customs (CSC) serving in Seme Command.

    The Controller, Federal Operations Unit, Zone ‘A’ – Ikeja, Nuhu Isa Mahmoud who gave this hint added that, “the CGC has further directed that should the officer be found culpable as alleged, severe disciplinary actions which includes dismissal would be taken against the officer to serve as deterrent to others.

    “Meanwhile, the officer has been handed over to the Special Criminal Investigation Dept (SCID) Panti Yaba-Lagos for necessary interrogation, after which the Service would conduct an in-house disciplinary committee to deal decisively with the issue.

     

  • Customs officer ‘bathes woman with acid’

    Customs officer ‘bathes woman with acid’

    A personnel of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), has been arrested by the police for allegedly pouring acid on a woman.

    The victim, Tope Fadipe, a sales girl in a restaurant owned by the officer, was seriously wounded and is lying in critical condition at the Emergency Unit of the Badagry General Hospital, Lagos.

    The officer, who heads NCS’s unit at Mosafejo Aradagun, has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further interrogation.

    It was gathered  the incident occurred over N50,000 which was allegedly unremitted by the sales girl.

    An eyewitness said an argument ensued over the missing money and the enraged officer stormed off and later returned to bathe the victim with acid despite insisting on her innocence.

    Although the matter was initially reported to the Badagry Police Division, the suspect was said to have evaded arrest until he was later caught by the police.

    The Badagry Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Ibrahim Hassan, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), said the suspect has since been arrested, contrary to claims that he was still at large.

    He added: “We have arrested the suspect. We have also transferred the case to the State Criminal and Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, where investigations are currently ongoing.”

     

  • ‘Mad man’ held with arms, ammunition

    A man  suspected to be lunatic has been arrested with a pistol in the Gowon Estate area of Ipaja, a Lagos suburb.

    The suspect is currently being interrogated by operatives at the Anti-Robbery section of the State Criminal Investigation Department, (SCID), Yaba, Lagos Mainland

    Eyewitnesses said the man had been loitering the area for two months until a curious passer-by suspected him while wrapping an object with a rag.

    The man was said to have  started looking sideways, apparently to ascertain whether he was being watched, before he dumped the content of the rag into a container at the dump site.

    The passer-by was said to have alerted others who immediately rushed to the scene to discover that the object was a double-barrel pistol with four cartridges.

    He was immediately apprehended and handed over to police operatives at the estate for interrogation, a source said.

    It was gathered that news of the man’s arrest shocked residents of the area as they were told that the man intended planting a bomb at the dump site.

    Police source at the station said that during interrogation, the man’s speech was incoherent.

    Said the source: “We tried to find out where he got the weapons from, but he gave a meaningless response. He was later transferred to the SCID.

    “The investigation will include taking him to a psychiatric hospital to ascertain his mental stability before further investigations”.

    However, residents believe that the man is sane but was only pretending, fearing that he might be working for criminals in the area.

    “We think he is the one criminals are using to hide their weapons. The man may not be mad,” a resident said.

    Command’s spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), told The Nation that the suspect was arrested on Saturday at the estate.

    Braide said the suspect was allegedly seen at 5th Avenue, Customs Junction, Gowon Estate, while trying to empty some items into a dust bin.

    “The people were curious about what he was dumping. Upon closer examination, it was discovered that the mad man emptied one locally-made double-barrel pistol and four live cartridges into the dust bin. Youths in the community claimed they had mistaken him for a mad man. He was immediately handed over to the police at Gowon Estate but under interrogation, he was not coherent in his speech. He was later transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, for further investigation,” Braide said.

    ‘Mad man’ held with arms, ammunition

  • Woman ‘assaults’ girl for bed-wetting

    Woman ‘assaults’ girl for bed-wetting

    A 27-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly beating and inflicting injuries on a 10-year-old girl for bed-wetting.

    The suspect, Joy Amodu, was paraded yesterday at the Police Command, Oduduwa, Ikeja, Lagos, by its spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP). She said the incident occurred on February 29, adding that police operatives had since been on her trail.

    Braide said Amodu, who claimed to be an employee of a private security company in the state beat up the victim with a stick and inflicted injuries all over her body.

    She said: “On February. 29, the police at Onikan Division got a tip-off that a little girl was in a critical condition in one hospital. The officers went there and found the victim with her face and hands swollen as a result of beating she received from Amodu.

    “The victim was later referred to the Military Hospital on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, for better treatment as she had earlier been rejected at other hospitals due to her condition. A non-government, The Hands that Cares, was also invited into the case by a good Nigerian. The organisation has taken over the case with a view to settling the hospital bills, while calling for prosecution of the suspect.

    “The State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti-Yaba, has investigated the case and the suspect will be charged to court. The legal department of the SCID would advise us on the offence she will be charge with. We are going to prosecute the case in collaboration with the NGO.”

    The National Coordinator of the organisation, Mrs Jacinta Nworie, said the suspect was a younger sister to the victim’s father, adding that the suspect allegedly took the girl from her Kogi State-based father under the guise that she would train her in Lagos.

    “The condition we met the girl in the hospital was so bad. The victim told us that the suspect bit her, poured hot ointment into her private part and flogged her with a stick. We met a man who claimed to be her father, pleading that the suspect should be released because it is a family matter, but we are not so sure he is the father. We will release the girl to him only if he can provide evidence of his relationship with the girl,” Nworie said.

    Joy said she did not mean to inflict the injuries on the girl, adding that she was not happy over the fact that she was bed-wetting.

  • Pastor, worshipper held for girl’s ‘murder’

    Pastor, worshipper held for girl’s ‘murder’

    The leader of a prominent Pentecostal church at Aguda, Surulere, Lagos Mainland, is being held by the police over the alleged murder of a 12-year-old girl.

    The pastor’s arrest came on the heels of the confession of a member of his church who was arrested in connection with the murder.

    Pastor Sign Fireman who leads of Perfect Christian Ministry, is being detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba.

    He was held in connection with the alleged murder of the girl, Bose, a food vendor at the Badagry Roundabout. She was allegedly strangled to death by a man, Ikechukwu Friday, on Fireman’s order.

    Friday (18), who said he had been washing cars for the pastor since 2011 when his family was introduced to the church, told reporters yesterday that he approached the pastor on December 29, 2013 for N100,000 to buy clothes for the New Year festivities.

    “When I met my pastor, he asked me to go and look for a girl that is less than 18 years and strangle her to death. He said while my victim is being strangled, she would excrete hot excreta. The pastor said I should bring the excreta to him and in return, he would give me the money I requested,” Friday said.

    The suspect, a Badagry resident, added: “So, on Monday, December 30, 2013, around 9.30am, I went to Bose’s mother’s shop to eat. I had known them for a long time; so, Bose is my friend. After eating, I asked her to accompany me somewhere that I wanted to show her something and she obliged. I tricked her into an abandoned uncompleted NITEL building, where I held her neck and strangled her.

    “Her shout while I was strangling her attracted neighbours and the security man that watches over the place. I attempted to run away but was caught and taken to the police. But I was unable to get the excreta.”

    Friday said it was the first time he would carry out such an assignment for the pastor.

    It was gathered that the pastor, who had been on the run, was arrested yesterday.

    He was said to be writing his statement while Friday was being paraded by the state Command’s spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP).

    Braide, who said the matter was being investigated, added that the suspect would soon be charged to court.

    She also confirmed the pastor’s arrest, saying: “We just got him today. He is writing his statement.”

  • Woman loses N3.7m to suspected fraudsters

    Woman loses N3.7m to suspected fraudsters

    A woman, who was tricked by suspected fraudsters to provide some money for the execution of a contract has lost N3.7million.

    The victim, Chiamaka Eze, said one of the suspects, who is a member of a church she attends, approached her for N3.7million to execute the contract.

    She said because she was convinced, she agreed to provide the money.

    “An agreement was reached and signed in the presence of our pastor after which he prayed for us,” Eze said.

    She said she paid them the money within three months, adding: “After collecting the N3.7million, they kept demanding more money, but when I demanded to see the contract papers or the Local Purchase Order (LPO), they were not able to come up with any. At this point, I started suspecting I might have been duped.”

    She explained that she had known the pastor for over four years and wondered why he could lead her to fraudsters.

    Police operatives at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba have arrested the pastor and three other suspects.

    They were paraded yesterday by the Command’s spokesperson, Ngozi Briade, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP).

    The suspects, Pastor Ejike Samson (35), Emmanuel Chukwuemeka, Chukwuma Nkoro and a herbalist, Sunny Olufoye, were alleged to be professional fraudsters who tricked unsuspecting victims to defraud them of their money.

    It was gathered that they hypnotise their victims.

    Ejike said none of them was a member of his church, adding: “They came to my church and said I should pray for them, that they had a contract and to witness the payment. There was a written agreement which I signed as a witness. I witnessed the payment of only N525,000 in two instalments. The day Eze came with others was the second time I met the woman”.

    Olufoye, in whose house some charms, a calabash and other items were recovered, denied being part of the fraud.

    He said one of the suspects, simply identified as Prince, who was squatting with him in his three-bedroom apartment, was the one that kept the charms there.

    “I never knew it had any security implication because they never worshipped or did any sacrifice in the house. They just kept them in one of the rooms that is leaking”, he said.

    Chukwuemeka said he got a contract to supply aluminium worth N4million and had no money to finance it.

    “It was my brother that took me to Madam Eze. But I did not use the money for the contract. We shared the money as it came. We spent it on women and drinks, he said”.

    Braide said the suspects would be charged to court after investigations.