Category: Crime

The Economic Financial Crimes Commission has released 58 out of 69 students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, arrested earlier on Wednesday. The PUNCH earlier reported that the commission arrested no fewer than 70 students of the university. They were reportedly arrested by officials of the EFCC in a midnight raid on hostels outside the campus. Multiple sources in Ile-Ife confirmed to our correspondent on Wednesday morning that the officials, around 2 a.m., stormed the Fine Touch and Superb hostels in Oduduwa Estate, Ile-Ife, broke into rooms, and arrested…

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The Nigerian Air Force says the Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai on Sunday, eliminated 22 terrorists in air strikes at their identified terrorists’ hideouts and enclaves in Borno. The Director of Public Relations and Information of NAF, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, made this known in a statement on Monday in Abuja. Gabkwet said the air strikes were sequel to intelligence received from the Land Component that about 22 terrorists in a gun truck and two motorcycles were sighted near Marte. He said that the NAF aircraft were immediately dispatched…

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The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Monday, ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to immediately release the $9.8 million belonging to the former Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu, being held by the anti-graft agency despite an earlier judgment ordering the release of the money. The court said the money must be deposited with the Chief Registrar of the court, in the interest of justice. Yakubu had approached the court seeking an order compelling…

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Two Lagos businessmen ThankGod Emenike and Chidike Prince have been arrested for concealing cocaine and heroin in their bellies on board flights to Hong Kong and France. The suspects were arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, the nation’s capital on Friday, October 20, and Saturday, October 21. Also, nabbed by NDLEA operatives is one Agbo Tochukwu, said to be with a consignment of 58 parcels of skunk weighing 29.10kgs while attempting to board a flight to Oman.…

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A driver, Chimobi Nwoko, has been at loggerheads with his boss, identified simply as Akazue, after he allegedly deceived him into donating one of his kidneys to his younger brother, Osinachi, and failed to fulfill his promise of compensating him for the donation. Nwoko, while narrating his ordeal on Tuesday, said Akazue promised to give him $20m, a house, and a driving job in the US, but since undergoing the kidney transplant at a popular hospital in Lagos State on December 22, 2018, Akazue has failed to honour his promises.…

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Lagos-based medical doctor, Olufemi Olaleye, the medical director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation has been sentenced to life imprisonment for raping his wife’s niece. The judge, Rahman Oshodi, of the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Lagos found the doctor guilty on Tuesday. Mr Olaleye was charged with a two-count charge of defilement and sexual assault by penetration of his wife’s niece, offences which he was alleged to have committed between March 2020 and November 2021. The defendant was arraigned on 30 November 2022 and pleaded not guilty…

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Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have taken into custody two wanted heads of transnational criminal organisations with a multi-billion-naira worth of illicit drugs. The anti-narcotics agency also seized assets from the traffickers after weeks of intelligence-led operations within and outside the country. This was made known on Sunday by the agency’s Director, Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, at the headquarters in Abuja. Babafemi stated that the duo, who concealed cocaine and heroin in their bellies, were arrested after its operatives intercepted consignments designated to Paris, France and…

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Two Point of Sale (POS) agents, on Thursday, October 12, appeared before an Ebute-Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos State for allegedly stealing N942 million belonging to their employer. The defendants – Chigozie Omeje, 26; and Irene Andrew, 29; – whose addresses were not disclosed, are facing a three-count charge of conspiracy, cybercrime, and theft. They, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges. The prosecutor, ASP Jimoh Joseph, told the court that the POS agents and some others at large committed the offences in June and July at Odugunyan in…

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The duo of Adama Joseph and Oreoluwa Davies, suspects arrested by the Nigeria Police for killing a club owner in Kwara State, Adeniyi Ojo, have given reasons why they killed the socialite. The ladies paraded by the police in Abuja on Wednesday evening confessed to the crime, attributing the causes of their action to the late socialite’s covetousness, stinginess, and lack of care. Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, while parading the suspects said, “On October 6, 2023, police operatives apprehended the two suspects, Adama and Oreoluwa, who are…

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A vigilante group in Rivers State said its men have arrested a 14-year-old boy with a pistol while robbing residents of Ikwerre Road in the Mile 1 axis of Diobu in Port Harcourt. The local vigilante, known as Diobu Security Services revealed that the teenager (name withheld) allegedly led a three-man criminal during the operation on Sunday night. The Commander of the Diobu Security Service, Prince Amatari, disclosed this while speaking with newsmen in Port Harcourt on Tuesday. Amatari explained that the boy’s arrest followed a distress call put across…

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Umaru Mohammed, a Major -General in the Nigerian Aemy has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment by a Special Court Martial sitting in Abuja on Tuesday, October 10. The General was convicted and sentenced for stealing $2,178,900 and N1.65 billion belonging to the Nigerian Army Property Limited (NAPL) when he served at its Group Managing Director. The court ordered the convicted senior officer to refund monies he stole, back to the company’s coffers. The eight-man panel led by Maj.-Gen. James Myam at its sitting on Tuesday found Gen. Mohammed guilty…

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The Lagos High Court Sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square on Lagos Island, on Monday, sentenced the suspended Assistant Superintendent of Police, Drambi Vandi, who killed a Lagos-based lawyer, Mrs. Omobolanle Raheem, to death by hanging. Justice Ibironke Harrison sentenced the ASP after finding him guilty of the murder of the pregnant lawyer. Harrison held that the prosecution was able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. The judge also held that the convict shot the deceased at close range. The court had in April dismissed a “no case submission”…

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Police personnel on duty at the Lagos State Police Command’s Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Panti, Yaba, Lagos on Wednesday October 4, demanded and collected a bribe of N5000 from a PUNCH newspaper undercover reporter who disguised as a friend to see embattled musician, Azeez Fashola aka Naira Marley. According to a report in The PUNCH newspapers, “meanwhile, when our correspondent arrived at Panti at about 10am, she had approached the front desk, where she met two policewomen and asked to see Marley, claiming to be his friend. She was…

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The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Idowu Owohunwa, has disclosed that late singer, Ilerioluwa Aloba aka Mohbad, began vomiting and developed goosebumps after he was injected three times by a nurse, Feyisayo Ogedemgbe, on September 12, 2023. The Lagos CP disclosed this at a press briefing on Friday at the state Command headquarters, Ikeja, Lagos. Owohunwa was giving preliminary reports of investigation conducted by the police team to unravel the circumstance that led to the death of Mohbad. “As of today, a total of 26 witnesses have been interviewed,”…

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Three members of an Abuja based family, Mistura Olasinde and her two daughters, Hauwa and Fatima, residents of Starwood Estate, Galadimawa, in the Federal Capital Territory, were abducted on Friday, September 8, 2023. Mistura’s husband, Surajudeen Olasinde, a staff member of the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria, revealed that the incident happened at Kabusa Garden Estate while his wife and children were driving home in their Toyota Highlander from Garki to Starwood Estate located in-between Galadimawa and Lokokogoma areas of Abuja, where they…

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Pictures of Gift David Okpara Okpolowu (a.k.a. 2-Baba), the leader of the Iceland Cult gang who has an N100 million bounty on his head for allegedly leading the attack that led to the brutal murder of a Divisional Police Officer, DPO Bako Angbashim of Ahoada Division in Rivers State have emerged. Rivers governor, Siminalayi Fubara, had on Saturday evening placed a bounty of N100 million on the head of 2-Baba over the murder of the DPO around the Odiemudie Community in the Ahoada East Local Government Area of the state.…

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A Rivers State-based vigilance group, ONELGA OSPAC, said its men arrested three persons, including two pastors, over the death of a 24-year-old man, Lucky, in the Port Harcourt area of the state. Lucky reportedly died after an operation to remove his hunchback. An officer with the Planning and Advisory Committee of the security group, codenamed OSPAC, told Sunday PUNCH that the suspects were nabbed while trying to flee Port Harcourt. One of the suspects, who was said to be the pastor of a new generation church in Osiakpo, near Omoku…

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Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested a drug kingpin, Ngene Onyedikachi, who was responsible for recruiting fake couple smugglers arrested in Lagos on August 1, 2023, while hard drugs of various forms were seized across the country in different operations. The fake couple, Onyebuchi and Nonyelum were arrested by operatives of the NDLEA for ingesting 184 wraps of cocaine weighing 3.322kg with 100grams of the drug also concealed in the woman’s private part. Meanwhile, the agency, on Sunday said it arrested some other suspects, Peter Iwebema,…

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The Ogun State Police Command said its operatives at the Owode Egba division, on Friday, arrested a suspected vandal, Adewole Adekunle. The suspect, said to be based in Eleko, Ajah, Lagos State, was allegedly found with some vandalised transformer parts which belonged to the Showo Community, Kobape, along Sagamu-Abeokuta Expressway and owned by the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company. These were disclosed in a statement by the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Omolola Odutula. According to Odutola, the suspect was arrested following complaints by villagers who tipped the police around…

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A100-level course 9 police cadet, A.S. Jika, dropped dead at the Nigeria Police Academy, Wudil, Kano State, on Saturday, after being continuously starved and malnourished for over two weeks. Some of the cadets accused the Commandant, Assistant Inspector-General, Sadiq Abubakar, of high-handedness and financial mismanagement of feeding allowance meant for the students. Jika, who hailed from Adamawa State, and was in the Department of Computer Science, collapsed inside the toilet in the early hours of Saturday. A cadet, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid being victimized, said the…

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The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital Chapter has called for an immediate action over the kidnap of Professor of Neurology, Prof Ekanem Phillip-Ephraim, who was kidnapped from her home in Calabar, Cross River State, and taken into captivity. In a release signed by chapter’s chairman, Dr. Femi Akodu, the association said: Today makes it 50 days since our very senior colleague and Professor of Neurology, Prof Ekanem Phillip-Ephraim, was kidnapped from her home in Calabar, Cross-River State, and taken into captivity. With no…

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A pastor of a Pentecostal Church (name withheld) in Nnewi, Anambra State, identified as Pastor Prosper Igboke, has committed suicide after he jumped down from a two-storey building in Nnewi. Sources in the area said Igboke jumped down from the two-storey building and died instantly after he was jilted by his lover, whom he had spent so much on. A relative of the deceased who spoke to journalists on Saturday, said the 30-year-old man from Leru community in Umunneochi Local Government Area, Abia State, had trained his lover in the…

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A widow, Adewunmi Taiwo, who tried to export 5.70 kg of Codeine to the United Kingdom, was on Tuesday sentenced to six months imprisonment by a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos. Justice Akintayo Aluko sentenced her after she pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful exportation of Codeine preferred against her by the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency. The NDLEA prosecution counsel, Abu Ibrahim, told the court that she committed the offence on July 27, 2023. He said the incident took place at Skyway Handling Company export shed, a…

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Dr. Akintoye Akindele Opens Up On Business Dispute With Abiola Family, Says Fraud Allegations Untrue The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Duport Midstream Company Limited, Dr Akintoye Akindele, has opened up on a business dispute he has with the family of the late MKO Abiola. In a short video he released on Tuesday, the businessman said his business rivals are trying to weave unfound fraud allegations around him through cronies, describing all fraud allegations against him as untrue. He said, “It’s about a business dispute with my former partners and…

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A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Maitama has granted N500m bail to a Lagos businessman, Dr. Akintoye Akindele, accused of offering a N50m bribe to men of the Nigeria Police Force. Akindele, who has been in police custody for weeks, was arraigned on Tuesday on a charge. The suit was marked: CR/595/2023 and was filed in the name of the Inspector General of Police. The prosecution claimed the defendant offered to bribe policemen, who were investigating a case of funds diversion brought against him, to enable him…

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said it had re-arrested an Abuja-based businessman, Stephen Akpa, for alleged N500m fraud. The commission disclosed this in a statement by its Media and Publicity arm which was posted on its website. According to the commission, Akpa was initially arrested on December 2, 2022, at his office located in the Idu area of Abuja following a petition accusing him of obtaining N500m under false pretences. It added that the suspect jumped the administrative bail granted him ahead of his planned arraignment on five counts.…

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On September 5, 2012, Angela Nworgu, then head of the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering, SCUML, of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), disclosed that NGOs are now used as conduits for money laundering and the support of criminal operations. Several years later, the revelation she made in her opening remarks at the annual seminar for Designated Non-Financial Institutions (DNFIs) with the theme “Strategic partnership Among DNFIs for Effective Implementation of AML/CFT Regime in Nigeria” held at the EFCC Academy, Karu, Abuja, is still relevant. According to Nworgu,…

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A Lagos socialite, Farida Abdulkabir, popularly known as Farida Sobowale, has seek forgiveness from her children over her attempt to plunge into the Lagos lagoon on the Third Mainland Bridge. In a video clip that went viral on Thursday evening, the owner of Phreedah Body Care and Spa in Surulere, Lagos, was seen being pacified by several men with her black-coloured Sport Utility vehicle parked beside her. The rescuers in the footage could be seen holding the entrepreneur, persuading her not to take her life. City Round gathered that Abdulkabir…

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Bishop Timothy Otu, the General Overseer of Agape Evangelical Ministeries (City of Miracles)Located in Obikabia Junction Aba, Abia State has been arrested by the Police after a married female Evangelist and mother of five identified as “Evangelist Happiness”who lodged in with him at Jubilee Guest House Ovom, Ogborhill was found dead in the hotel room. The incident reportedly happened around 11pm on Saturday 12th August 2023 after the Bishop who booked the room with her absconded after deceiving the receptionist that he was going to buy food at that time…

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