Police in Abuja arrest lawyer who is leader of armed robbery gang

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Barrister Promise (other names withheld), led a deadly gang that specialized in snatching at gun-point exotic cars, especially Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) of different brands.

A police source said that the lawyer recruited members of his gang who usually carried out operations while he remained at the background as the sole receiver of the vehicles.

“He is a lawyer and also a car dealer, who deals only in stolen vehicles. He doesn’t go for operations but he was the sole receiver of the stolen vehicles. He recruited them and bought the vehicles cheaply from the gang,” the police source said.

Most of stolen vehicles were sold in Onitsha, Anambra State. When the crack team of FCT Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) stormed Promise’s residence in Gwagalada, he had fled but was later apprehended in Lugbe, Abuja.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Alkali Usman said when they received complaints and petitions from the victims he quickly ordered the officer in charge of SARS, Commander, Supol Benneth Igweh (CSP) and his team to take action. He said this was after Barrister Promise’s gang snatched an SUV in Port-Harcourt, robbed the victim and took the stolen vehicle to Abuja and parked it at Promise’s house.

DCP Usman stated that Barrister Promise’s gang also robbed a woman in Port-Harcourt as she was taking her daughter to school and snatched the car and parked it at their gang-leader’s compound.

The Commissioner of Police, Adenrele Shinaba, said the victim was lucky because he has a track which was used by SARS operatives to track the SUV and after conversation with the suspect, he ran away from his house in Gwagalada. The policemen from SARS went and locked up his house. He said he was later arrested in Lugbe, Abuja.

CP Shinaba added that when Promise was picked up, “we arrested a lady simply called Amarachi, girlfriend of one of the members of the gang. Amarachi always took the stolen cars to Onitsha in search of buyers. When she discovered that policemen were looking for her, she quickly relocated. She was arrested through phone call,” he said.

According to him, Promise’s arrest led to the apprehension of other suspects: Chimazie, Micheal and John who are now at SARS for further interrogation.

Promise confirmed that he’s a qualified lawyer and car dealer. “I am a lawyer I attended Abia State University. I graduated in 1999 and I went to Law School in 2000 and when I came back, I started practising in Abuja.”

CP Shinaba added that Promise and his gang took the detectives to several states including Nasarawa, Edo, Ogun and Kaduna to recover all the cars such as Inifinity Jeep, Toyota Hilux, Honda Pilot Jeep, Honda CRV Jeep, Toyota Camry.

Some of the victims have started going to the command to identify their cars.

Source: OluFamous

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Lagos Robbery Suspects Make Shocking Revelations

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Lagos State Police

Operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad have arrested two persons for their alleged connivance in the massive robbery attacks two Sundays ago in Lagos, which left three policemen and some civilians dead, with several others wounded. A one-year-old baby was also hit by bullets during their dare-devil operation which lasted for hours.

Recovered from the gang's hideout somewhere around Agege area of Lagos, was one of the vehicles reportedly used in the operation, two AK 47 riffles and two magazines loaded with two hundred ammunition.

The duo of Rasheed Suleimon and Kaseem Enifolabi, according to Lagos State Police Command spokes person, Ngozi Braide, while parading them along side other suspected members of different robbery gangs that have been on the command's wanted list, were arrested in Dopemu and Oshodi areas of the state by operatives from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja.

She said the suspects confessed knowing members of the gang that operated two weeks ago but insisted they did not take part in the operation, adding: "During investigation one of the suspects took the operatives to the gang's hideout at Wahabi Street in Agege area of the state where one of their operational vehicles, a Honda civic, was recovered with two AK 47 riffles and four magazines with two hundred ammunition."

She explained that the robbers were able to escape that day because the Police were mindful of civilian casualties. Braide said: "The robbers shot sporadically, but with the way we were trained, we are not supposed to shoot anyhow, particularly in the crowd. It will be better to allow robbers to go free than killing innocent people because the Police will always arrest them someday."

One of the suspects, 21-year-old Rasheed Sulaimon, who hails from Kwara State, claimed he knew the leader of the gang, even as he disclosed that a female was among the robbers who terrorized Lagos that fateful day.

Hear him: Yes, I know the leader of the gang that operated in Lagos two weeks ago. They did not tell me they were going to rob. But after the robbery, one of them known as Yemi boss called me the next day and said they struck the previous day and killed some policemen.

"He later sent me N3,000 recharge card warning me not to tell any soul, or he would kill me. There was a woman among the gang. And they usually operated in both military and police uniform. I knew Yemi boss at a drinking joint in Akerele area of Sango from where we became friends."

Arrested kidnap suspects

In another development, the Police in Lagos, last week, smashed another gang which specializes in kidnapping eminent personalities in Lagos. The police arrested three suspected members of the gang who confessed to have kidnapped two staff of Dangote group and an Indian man recently. Three suspected members of the kidnap-gang whose target are the rich and influential were paraded by the police.

The trio of Pius Uba Livinus, 25, Kelerchukwu Onyeman, 27, and Ayebe Segun, 32, told a bewildered crowd that they were responsible for the kidnap of two staff of Dangote Group of Companies on September 2 and 17, 2012 . One of them, Pius Livinus, who said his father was dismissed from the Nigeria Police Force 17 years ago, disclosed that the sum of N32 million was collected as ransom for the release of one of their victims.

Conspiracy and kidnapping

Livinus was discovered to have been arrested and charged to Magistrate Court 17, PWD, Ikeja for conspiracy and kidnapping in April 2012, but was released two months later, before he allegedly perpetrated Yahaya's kidnap.

Livinus told reporters that his gang's operational method includes storming prominent clubs in Ikoyi and other highbrow areas, from where they would kidnap fun seekers while leaving the club.

He confessed to have taken part in three kidnap cases, noting: "The first one was successful. It involved an Indian man, in Victoria Island. Four of us were involved. At the end of the day, N32 million was paid as ransom out of which I got N5 million.

"The second one was not successful because I was arrested and charged to court but managed to find my way out." The 25-year-old Secondary School Certificate holder from Isiala-Ngwa North, Abia state said he used part of his share to buy a plot of land in Lekki.

Source: Vanguard

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'Terrorists' Hack Into Nigerian Security Websites

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Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin (2nd left) and other security chiefs after a security council meeting

The leakage of the personal details of some security operatives is worrying. There is urgent need to investigate it

The recent publication on the internet of the names and personal details of some 60 agents of Nigeria's State Security Service (SSS) including its Director General, Ekpenyong Ita, again raises serious questions about the competence of those entrusted with the nation's security. According to the United States- based Associated Press (AP) wire service reports, the leaked details included mobile phone numbers, contacts and bank account numbers.

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Nigeria: Why We Designated Three Members of Boko Haram As Terrorists - U.S.

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The U.S. said on Thursday that it decided to designate three leaders of Boko Haram as terrorists because their plans had gone beyond discrediting the Nigerian Government.

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Lagos C.J Frees 36 kirikiri inmates

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Lagos Chief Judge, Justice Ayotunde Philips yesterday released 233 inmates, majority of whom were awaiting trials at the Kirikiri Prisons, Lagos.

The exercise which formed part of the on-going new legal year programmes was also a step to de-congest the prisons.

Most of the lucky inmates  have stayed for over 12 years.

The Chief Judge, who was accompanied by senior members of the judiciary including judges and the Chief Registrar,  released 133 inmates from the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison and 103 from the Medium Security Prison.

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Ex-Prison Boss, Jarma Katagun, killed by Boko-Haram

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Bauchi Commisioner of Police, Mohammed Ladan.

Jarma Katagun, a former comptroller general of the Nigerian Prisons, died last night from gunshot wounds inflicted on him in an attack by members of the Boko Haram sect.

Suspected Boko Haram gunmen shot at Mr. Katagun yesterday in his hometown of Azare, Bauchi State, as the former prisons official left a mosque. Critically wounded, he was taken to an undisclosed hospital for emergency treatment. A family source disclosed to SaharaReporters that Mr. Katagun died overnight of complications from his gunshot wounds. Two security guards of the retired prisons official also lost their lives in yesterday’s attack.  

Mr. Katagun is one of two high-profile victims of attacks by the extremist Islamist group in the last 24 hours. The other casualty was Zannah Mallam Gana, the Borno State Commissioner for Justice, who was shot dead yesterday.  Mr. Gana was shot dead in Bama, Borno State.

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Kaduna Gunrunners Set Free Despite Being Found With Weapons By The Army

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Alhaji Nuhu Mohammed, who was last January arrested on gunrunning charges, has been set free by a Kaduna Magistrate Court.  
  It wasreported that there were influential forces working against the prosecution of Mohammed, a top Peoples Democratic Party’s chieftain. The deal to set him free was concluded this morning and he walked out of the courtroom at Ibrahim Taiwo Road along with his son.

He has been identified as the head of a campaign organization christened “Namadi Ambassadors” that campaigned for the election of Arc. Namadi Sambo as Kaduna State governor in the 2006-2007 elections period.

Sambo, who is now Nigeria’s vice president, denied that report, but competent security sources and the Kaduna PDP confirmed it.

The Nigerian Army, State Security Service, Police and Kaduna State Judiciary were accused of conspiracy in frustrating the prosecution of the suspected gunner and his son.  One of Mohammed’s sons, Yusuf, escaped during the incident in January, and fired shots before soldiers overpowered them. Their action is said to have been part of the grand design to finally silence the case.



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GUNMEN KILL 16 IN BAUCHI

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About nine persons on Sunday night in Zango area, a suburb of Bauchi metropolis, were killed by unknown gunmen Seven persons were, however, luckier as they merely sustained gunshot injuries. They are presently receiving treatment at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, (ATBUTH), Bauchi.An eyewitness told THISDAY that "the attackers targeted the residence of one person where people used to assemble in the evening to play cards and gamble. They came in a tricycle (keke NAPEP) and started shooting sporadically, killing five people on the spot and injuring several people who were later  taken to the hospital. Four others have also died between yesterday night and today.’’

The deceased victims are Ayuba Shehu, Freeman Lumi, Godiya Rimi, Ishaku Samson, Joseph Komo, Inna Zamba, Samuel  Mutashi, Ishaya Jauro and Haruna Ayuba, while the survivors are  Ajiya Kimsa, Yakubu Galibi, Ma’aji Sarauta, Balam Ishaku and Joshua Hassan.

The source said the gunmen were four in number, each carrying sophisticated weapons, adding that the attack had ethnic-cleansing undertone as the people attacked were from Sayawa chiefdom.

Kimsa, while speaking to journalists from his hospital bed, blamed the attack on ‘’the present administration’s insensitivity and insincerity in putting an end to the unending attacks targeted at the Sayawa people of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of the state.’’

He appealed to security agents in the state  ‘’to fish out the culprits and make them face the law of the land over their callous and satanic activities.’’

Bauchi State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Lawi Pokti,  described the attack as not only shocking and unbelievable but barbaric and unfortunate.

He urged the state Governor, Mallam  Isa Yuguda, to fish out the perpetrators of the dastardly act immediately to justify people’s confidence in his administration.

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