The Nation Newspaper

Tag: suspects

  • JTF arrests 26 suspects with stolen crude oil

    The Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Pulo Shield, has arrested 26 persons in possession of stolen crude.

    Among those arrested was Mr. James Ogbe, who the JTF said attempted to bribe operatives of the task force.

    Ogbe was said to have offered an unspecified cash to troops of JTF’s Sector 1 troops to secure the release of two illegal bunkering trucks.

    Confirming Ogbe’s arrest, JTF’s Media Coordinator Lt. Col. Ado Isa said the trucks were impounded  by the JTF on Eminye Road, Oleh and Agbakoro in Isoko South and Ughelli North in Delta State.

    He said the trucks, which were filled with crude suspected to have been stolen, were nabbed with two drivers.

    Isa said Ogbe said he owned the trucks and their contents, illegally siphoned from a pipeline behind premium filling station in  Effurun,  Warri.

    “The troops, on further search of  his Navy Blue 2004 model Honda Accord, discovered a small generator, connecting hoses and welding materials.

    “The trucks and the products were evacuated to a safe place and destroyed while the suspects and the Honda car are in the custody of the JTF,”he said.

    Isa also said the troops arrested 25 suspects in six illegal distillery camps in Ondo, Delta and Edo states.

    He said the suspects were apprehended at illegal bunkering sites at Egbokodo, Beneath Island and Otegele in Warri South West in Delta State.

    The JTF commander said the oil thieves operated with 23 pumping machines, 19 cooking pots, 48 Cotonou boats, 50 surface tanks and 10 dug-out pits filled with stolen crude oil and illegally acquired Automated Gas Oil (AGO).

    He said the troops also discovered 22 pieces of a 2000-litre capacity plastic tanks and 162 pieces of 200-litre capacity drums filled with suspected  stolen crude oil.

  • 18 suspects, 36 vehicles held in Imo

    The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit (FOU),  Zone ‘C’ Owerri, Imo State has impounded 36 vehicles and arrested 18 suspects in its anti- smuggling campaign.

    The seized vehicles included 13 cars, 14 Sport Utility Van (SUV),  five trucks and four buses .They were impounded at various locations within the zone.

    Its Area Controller,  Victor Dimka, told The Nation that 37 seizures with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N179.5million were recorded last month, adding that the seizures were higher than those recorded in January last year. He put last year’s DPV  seizures at about N93 million.

    Apart from the vehicles, other  items that were intercepted by the  officers and men of the command included 636 cartons of imported frozen poultry products; 800 bags of cement; 800 pieces of used types; 2,155 cartons of foreign soap and creams; 274 bales of second hand clothing and stockings and 17 pieces of Tarpaulin.

    Others are 12 pieces of PVC rubber carpet and 51 bags of 50 kg parboiled rice.

    The Area Controller attributed the feat by the unit to innovations put in place by the management of the Service headed by Alhaji Dikko.

    This, according to him, has  reduced smuggling to the barest minimum in the area.

    Dimka also commended other security agencies such as the Nigeria Police Force, the State Security Services (SSS), the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agencies (NDLEA) and the media for cooperating in the fight against smuggling.

    “We have been trained, oriented and conscientised under the management of the CGC to meet our challenges and it is left for those still entrapped in smuggling to desist forthwith or be prepared to face the consequences of their act if arrested,” he said.

    Dimka advised the public, who wish to purchase vehicles, to ensure that they go through the official channels and clear with the customs before investing their money, warning that all illegal imported goods must be impounded as ignorance of the law is no excuse.

    He also warned that the NCS will not succumb to senseless and irrational pleadings for leniency by individuals caught in the act of smuggling.

    “So, many unthinkable and unimaginable things are happening in our country today, because of the persistent activities of smugglers and enough is enough because by this, they are trying to circumvent the laws of the land and that of such organisations as the Automobile industry,” he said.

  • Police parade six robbery suspects

    The Abia State Police Command has paraded six suspected armed robbers with a pledge to curb crimes.

    Parading the suspects in Umuahia at the weekend, Police Commissioner Adamu Ibrahim said the command took security measures, which resulted in the arrest of over 200 suspects before, during and after the Yuletide.

    He said his men, while patrolling Aba-Owerri Expressway, arrested Chinaza Ofoegbu from Isuikwuato with a machete at a black-spot at Aro-Ngwa near Aba.

    Ibrahim said an armed robbery suspect, whose name had been on the police watch list, Chimere Eze, aka ‘Nwa Barrister’, had been arrested.

    He said the suspect evaded arrest for over three years and was arrested with a locally- made pistol hidden in a brown bag at Asaga village, Arochukwu where he fought his colleagues.

    The police commissioner said his men raided Asaeme village, Uratta, Aba and arrested Onyekachi Uchendu of 11D Faulks Road, Aba in a hideout with one unregistered Skygo motorcycle suspected to have been stolen.

    He said another armed robbery suspect, Uchenna Ibeawuchi, of Umulolo Olokoro was arrested for possession of a stolen motorcycle.

    “On interrogation, he confessed, which led to the recovery of six motorcycles.”

    Ibrahim said his men apprehended Enyinnaya Umegbulam for attacking Chibuike Ojiabo and Azubike Paul, both of Ihie Ndume in Umuahia.

    According to him, the suspect injured the two with stones, sticks and bottles and stole their phones and money.

    Ibrahim said Ojiabo, who was injured, died in hospital while Umegbulam ran away.

    “However, my men later arrested him.”

    He said the police at Bende Division received a distress call from a citizen at Ozuitem and when they got there, with the help of a vigilance group,  arrested Okorie Dick with a locally-made pistol.

    “Efforts are being made to arrest his colleague, Uwalaka Nwokorie, of Ozuitem.”

    Ibrahim said the last person paraded was Ezekiel Ogbaa, who was arrested while trying to steal an MTN transformer.

    He said the suspect conspired with five others at large, adding that his men recovered a Citroen Jumper bus registered as WER 36 EM, used by the suspects.

  • Abia police parade robbery suspects

    The Abia State police command has paraded two suspected armed robbers who dispossessed a man of his Toyota Sequioa SUV car.

    The suspects were alleged to have pasted a campaign poster of Hon. Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje, member representing Bende federal constituency of the state.

    Parading the suspects in Umuahia, the state Commissioner of Police, Adamu Ibrahim, said that the suspects must have done it to escape arrest, since it could be believed that the car belongs to Ms Ukeje.

    Ibrahim said that the two men, Uchenna Ibero, male aged 24, and Ifeanyi Agbai male, 27, were arrested by the police at Amaiyi Obilohia in Isuikwuato Local Government Area after snatching a campaign bus from a politician.

    The Abia CP said that the suspects had earlier snatched a Mitsubishi campaign bus with registration number APP 376 CV, belonging to Chief Karibe Pascal Ojigwe, a former international footballer and a candidate of the APGA for Abia House of Assembly.

    He said that the suspects snatched the bus at gun point from Ojigwe.

    “My men went after them and traced them to Isuikwuato, where Agbai was arrested, and during a search in his house, we recovered one AK47 rifle with serial number 05934.

    “One AK47 magazine containing three rounds of live ammunition, one locally-made revolver pistol, one APGA T-shirt and one black polo with the inscription, ‘Gallant MOPOL, including the snatched bus.

    “A few days later, the suspects led the police to the De-Jug Hotel, located at Nkpa, near Uzuakoli, in search of the fleeing members of the gang, and the hoodlums, numbering about five, on sighting the police, opened fire on them.”

    Ibrahim said that one suspect, identified as Ifeanyi Agwu Sunday of Eluama Alayi, was arrested with bullet wound, while the Toyota SUV with registration number SMK 766 DE, with a poster on it was recovered.

    The police boss said that his men also recovered one Space wagon with registration number NCH 405 AE, one Toyota Picnic SUV with registration number KPA 177 LG and a Lexus Jeep with registration number PH 30 AM.

    He added that the vehicles were recovered and one Ndubueze Onuegbu was arrested in connection with the three vehicles which were parked in a compound belonging to one Chibueze Onuegbu at Ubani Ibeku in Umuahia North area.

  • Falana worried about fate of 527 suspects

    Falana worried about fate of 527 suspects

    Lagos lawyer and activist, Femi Falana(SAN), has expressed fears over the fate of about 527 suspects paraded across the country last year.

    The senior lawyer alleged that they might have been extra-judicially killed by the police, as there was  evidence that they were arraigned in any court.

    He disclosed this at a briefing in his Ikeja office.

    A list of such suspects made available to reporters showed that Edo State tops the list with 60 suspects. It was followed by Bauchi  43; Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Anambra 40 each; Kano 37; and Abia  36 suspects, among others.

    He challenged the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Suleiman Abba to disclose their whereabouts or the courts where they were being tried.

    He condemned the parade of suspects by the Police, describing the act as illegal. He stressed that it breached the constitutional right of the person or party arrested.

    He argued that since criminal suspects are presumed innocent until proved guilty by the courts, their parade before the media contravenes Section 35 of the Constitution which guarantees the dignity of their persons.

    “In spite of the presumption of innocence which inures in favour of criminal suspects by virtue of Section 36 of the Constitution and Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights Act, the law enforcement agencies in Nigeria have continued to subject accused persons to media trial before arraigning them in courts.

    “By subjecting suspects to media trial before arraignment in a criminal court, the fundamental rights to fair hearing and the dignity of their persons are infringed upon by the state,” Falana noted.

    The Senior Advocate called on Abba to warn all law enforcement agencies to desist from illegal parade and the extra-judicial killing of criminal suspects without trial.

    “Apart from exposing the country to unwarranted ridicule before the international community, the Federal Government has continued to waste scarce resources on the payment of judgment debts for criminal actions of some lawless law enforcement officials.”

    The lawyer said it was on record that local and international courts have repeatedly condemned the practice of subjecting criminal suspects to media trial.

    He cited cases of Ndukwem Chiziri Nice versus Attorney-General of the federation (2007) and another and Dyot Bayi and 14 others versus Federal Republic of Nigeria which held in ECOWAS court between 2004 and 2009, among others, to buttress his arguments.

    While not supporting armed robbery, kidnapping and other forms of criminality, Falana urged the police to do the needful by taking the suspects to court and not parade them illegally.

    Falana lamented that many armed robbery and kidnap suspects have been extra-judicially killed in police custody by unauthorised executioners after media trials while other criminal suspects are detained in dehumanising detention conditions.

    The Lagos lawyer berated the police for making distinction in the parade of poor and rich criminal suspects.

    He noted that while former governors, ministers, permanent secretaries and other members of the elites, who are arrested and briefly detained by the police and other anti-graft agencies, are not subjected to media parade and humiliation, the poor suspects are made to go through a lot of degradations.

    “On a few occasions that important personalities were exposed to public odium by law enforcement officials, the state has paid dearly for it.

    Falana recalled how the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency on January 15, 1997 for being in possession of alleged narcotic substances.

    He said the then NDLEA chairman, Major-Gen. Musa Bamaiyi, convinced that the agency had caught a big fish, addressed a press conference where he was paraded.

    He said after Fela was paraded, a N100million suit was slammed against the agency for violation of his fundamental rights to fair hearing, personal liberty and human dignity.

     

    “As NDLEA could not justify the media parade of the suspect under the law, it was compelled to approach the suspect (Fela) for an amicable resolution of the matter” adding that the NDLEA offered to discontinue the criminal charges against him on the condition that Fela would withdraw the civil suit against the agency.

    He regretted that illegal parade and extra judicial killing of criminal suspects by law enforcement agents and incessant killings of innocent people through accidental discharge of firearms have encouraged members of the public to resort to illegal arrest, parade and brutal killings of criminal suspects through jungle justice.

    He cited the incident of the Port Harcourt four alleged to have stolen a laptop and handset who were arrested, stripped naked and paraded before a crowd before being set ablaze to support his claim.

    To stem the tide, he urged well meaning Nigerians to report cases of extra-judicial killings of criminal suspects and other innocent people by law enforcement personnel and private individuals

     

     

     

  • Murder suspects get bail

    Justice Toyin Taiwo of a Lagos High Court sitting in Igbosere has granted bail to three, out  of the six persons standing trial for alleged murder.

    Justice Taiwo granted bail to Joel Ajiboye, Yusuf Akinwale and  Yakubu Olayiwola.

    The fourth accused person, Adigun Oriyomi, was denied bail.

    Ajiboye was granted bail after the court heard his application, which centred on ill health  and admittance of his medical report from the Nigerian Prisons Service and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Ikeja.

    A statement by the Ministry of Justice, Alausa Ikeja, last week and signed by the Public Relations Officer, Bola Akingbade, explained that the court reviewed its earlier ruling on November 17,last year and granted Ajiboye bail on health grounds and was bond over to keep the peace in accordance with provision of Section 35 & 36 of the ACJL 2011 amongst other bail conditions.                                                                                                                                                                    The other two defendants, Yusuf Akinwale and YakubuOlayiwola were also granted bail with same conditions.

    However, the court refused to entertain the review application brought in respect of Adigun Oriyomi and ordered that he be further remanded in Ikoyi Prisons.

    A case of murder was instituted against Ajiboye and five others by the Lagos State government on behalf of the state.

    The defendants  were first arraigned before Justice Taiwo of Court 28, Criminal Division of the Lagos High Court, Igbosere, Lagos on November 5, last year.

    Ajiboye, Akinwale, Olayiwola and  Oriyomi, through their counsel, applied for bail and the application was heard on November 13.

    The court delivered its ruling on November 17,  refusing to  grant bail to all the defendants.

    A subsequent application was brought before the court on  December 19, 2014 applying for a review of the ruling of the court refusing bail to the defendants.

    The trial judge has, however, adjourned further hearing in the murder charge brought against the defendants  till February  4, 2015.

  • Three Boko Haram suspects die in car explosion

    Three persons suspected to be members of the Boko Haram died on Tuesday in a suicide mission at Bajoga, Gombe State.

    A source told our reporter that the incident occurred at dusk at one of the security checkpoint at the entrance to the town from the Northern axis.

    The source said the vehicle used by the insurgents, a white Toyota Hilux, sped into the barricades on the road and went off in an explosion as the security agents at the checkpoint ran away.

    Police spokesman, Fwaje Atajiri, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), who confirmed the incident yesterday, added that none of the security operatives was affected.

    Atajiri said the take-off and final destination of the insurgents could not be ascertained because the three occupants of the vehicle died in the explosion.

    Also, the police command yesterday paraded 22 armed suspects, who had allegedly been terrorising the state.

    Three of the suspects, who were said to have operated in a tricycle – popularly called Keke NAPEP – rammed into an articulated vehicle at the Federal Low Cost as they attempted to evade police arrest.

    The others were reportedly arrested at Buba Shongo, Kagarawo, Jan Kai and Jakadafari areas of Gombe, following tip-offs from the public.

    Atajiri urged the public to inform the police on suspicious individuals, movements and activities.

    The spokesman said the command would treat the information with prompt attention and utmost confidentiality.

    He warned youths with criminal intents and those involved in kalare (political thugs) activities to desist.

  • Why we burgle houses, by suspects

    Why we burgle houses, by suspects

    The Ondo State Police Command has arrested two footballers, Adeosun Ayodeji and Joshua Adegoke and their partner, Christopher Damilola over alleged burglary case.

    The suspects were paraded at the State Police Headquarter in Akure, the state capital, alongside 29 other suspected criminals for different offences.

    Adegoke, aged 22, who confessed to have participated in the crime, claimed that he was a member of a football team called Rising Star Football Club in the state, while his colleague, Ayodeji, 25, claimed to be a member of a football club in Ghana.

    According to Joshua, he was lured into stealing in order to raise money to enable him to travel abroad and continue his football career.

    ‘‘I was approached by a football agent, who was impressed about my soccer display during one of our training sessions. He promised to take me to Qatar if I could raise some money.

    ‘‘Since I don’t have any other means to raise the fund, I discussed with Deji, who is also playing in Ghana and we, together with Christopher, took to stealing,” he said.

    The State Commissioner of Police, Isaac Eke said luck ran out of them when they burgled houses at Araromi Street in Akure whose owners reported the incident to the police.

    Eke said his men recovered from the suspects handsets, laptops and flat screen televisions, among other items.

    The police boss also paraded four suspected rapists, six for robbery, four kidnappers, 14 secret cult members and one fraudster.

    Eke praised residents of the state for supporting the police with useful information; adding that the command is determined to make the state crime-free.

  • Police arrest five robbery suspects

    Police arrest five robbery suspects

    Operatives of the State Anti Robbery Squad (SARS), Lagos Police Command, Ikeja, have arrested five suspected armed robbers in a hotel. Three guns, a fully loaded AK 47 magazine among other ammunition, were recovered from them.

    The suspects are: Taofeek Sawubana (31), Ganiyu Suleiman (28), Kehinde Abachi (26), Adewale Ojerinde (28), and Wasiu Fatai (27).

    They were arrested at Agbado, a Lagos suburb, by the operatives led by the officer in charge of SARS, Abba Kyari, a Superintendent (SP), following a tip-off by residents of the area.

    “Kyari received a tip-off that some armed robbers were operating from B-Hotel on Nuremi Yusuf Drive, Kollington area of Alagbado, on the outskirts of the city. The robbers were planning an operation that particular night and neighbours noticed their movements and reported,” a source said.

    When Kyari’s men, led two SARS decoy teams, stormed the hotel three members of the gang escaped, but six of them were arrested with arms and ammunition.

    The command’s Deputy Spokesperson, Lelma Kolle, an Assistant Superintendent (ASP), confirmed the arrest.

    He said Wasiu sustained bullet wounds during an exchange of gunshots with the operatives at the scene, adding that the three that fled escaped in a Volkswagen Vanagon mini-bus.

    The spokesman said police recovered two double-barrel pistols, one English revolver pistol, 36 cartridges, one live ammunition, three fully-loaded AK- 47 magazines and five expended ammunition from them.

    Kolle said the police are on the trail of the fleeing bandits, adding that the arrested suspects would be charged to court after interrogation.

  • NSCDC parades suspects caught with minor’s body

    NSCDC parades suspects caught with minor’s body

    The Abia State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps

    (NSCDC) has arrested two men caught with the body of a two-year-old girl.

    They were caught while trying to bury the girl in an abandoned pit.

    The two middle-aged men were apprehended at the Enyimba Filling Station, near Ariaria International Market, at Osisioma, near Aba, when trying to bury the girl put in a sack.

    Speaking in Umuahia while parading the suspects, the Commandant, Andy Dateer, said his officers were shocked when they caught two men trying to bury a two-year-old girl. He said they were attracted to the scene when the men quarrelled with a man who brought them there in his car.

    “As people gathered, the owner of the car zoomed off and my men arrested the two suspects.”

    Dateer said they would be handed over to the police.

    The NSCDC boss said his men went to Chineye Hospital where one of the suspects claimed the girl died and met a nurse, who denied that the girl died there.

    One of the suspects, who gave his name as Chibuike Anubuife from Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State, said he saw the other suspect for the first time that day and asked him to help him bury the girl.

    He said he was discussing the logistics for the burial of the girl, when men of the NSCDC swooped on them and arrested them, adding that he is a trader selling textile materials in Aba.

    The second suspect, Jonathan Nwogu from Mgboko Umuola in Obingwa Local Government, said the first suspect approached him to help him bury the girl.

    He said the first suspect claimed she died in a private hospital, adding that he attempted to run away when the NSCDC men wanted to arrest them.

    Nwogu said Anubuife later took them to Chineye Hospital at Umule in Aba where the girl was alleged to have died.

    He said the man, who brought the girl, gave him N2,000 so that he would bury her, adding that he had not met him before that day and could not trace him.