An attempt by a passenger to smuggle 23 wraps containing
$US34,000 has been foiled by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency
(NDLEA), the agency’s Head of Public Affairs, Ofoyeju Mitchell, said in a
press statement. The suspect, Ozoh Ikenna, was arrested at the
Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos, on his way to
Brazil. The money was detected during the screening of passengers for an
Etihad Airways flight to Abu Dhabi packed in wraps and concealed in his
boxer shorts.
NDLEA airport commander, Ahmadu Garba said that
the arrest was facilitated by a scanning machine. “We also conducted a
follow-up operation where one Ogbo Emmanuel who gave Ozoh the $34,000
dollars was arrested,” he stated.
Investigation by the Assets and
Financial Investigation Directorate headed by Mrs Victoria Egbase
revealed that the suspects were involved in the laundering of
substantial amounts of illicit drug proceeds.
“We were able to
trace over two hundred and twenty-six million Naira (N226,000,000) to
one bank account belonging to the second suspect, Ogbo Emmanuel,” she
said. “The account name is Eternal God International Limited”. Ogbo
Emmanuel hails from Umunya in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra
State. After his primary and secondary education, he travelled to
Onitsha to learn the automobile parts business. In 1996, he relocated to
Lagos. In 2005, he left Nigeria for Gambia in search of greener
pastures. While in Gambia, he travelled to Germany twice to purchase
fairly used electronics. He returned to Lagos in 2008 and has been
dealing in cosmetic business at the Trade Fair Complex.
In his
statement, Ozoh said that he was only a courier. “I [have lived] in
Brazil since 2008,” he stated. “I was paid to smuggle the $34,000 to
Brazil. They promised to pay me five per cent. I agreed to smuggle the
money to alleviate my financial hardship. I could not swallow the wraps
so I decided to hide it in my underpants.” It was also discovered
that suspected drug proceeds were regularly deposited in the said bank
account by members of an international drug cell that smuggles cocaine
from South America to West Africa. Investigations also revealed that the
cosmetic business of Ogbo Emmanuel at the Trade Fair Complex Lagos was a
mere hoax, as his sales records did not justify the large inflow of
money into his bank account. A Hyundai Tucson Jeep was seized as an
exhibit during the raid operation.
The Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, said that the agency was strategically targeting criminal wealth.
“Asset
forfeiture is one of the effective ways of responding to organised
crime threats,” he stated. “We are working assiduously to trace and
confiscate criminal wealth of drug syndicates. Strategic efforts are
on-going to prevent the entry of drug proceeds into legitimate economy
and criminal financing.”
The NDLEA boss assured members of the
public that in view of the overwhelming evidence linking the money to
narcotics, the agency will diligently prosecute the suspects. Effort is
also being made to apprehend other members of the drug cell.
While Russian cruise missiles were
flying over Iran towards targets in Syria on Wednesday, Iran's Supreme
Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was delivering a strongly worded speech
ruling out the need for further political dialogue with the US.
"Talking to the US will not hold any benefits for us," he told an audience of Revolutionary Guards. "On the contrary, it will be extremely detrimental."
It
may not be a complete coincidence that the Ayatollah was addressing
members of the Guards, the very same organisation now believed to be
playing a key role in planning and supporting Russia's Syrian
intervention.
To young Iranians buoyed up by the nuclear deal and already looking forward to the prospect of their country opening up to the West, the Ayatollah's remarks came as a blow.
But in the context of President Putin's latest moves, they seem less surprising.
Russia joining the war in Syria is a major boost to Iran's involvement in Syria.
It also adds weight to Iran's position as a key power in the Middle East.
For
much of the past 15 months, there have been repeated sightings of the
powerful Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani apparently
shuttling between Damascus, Baghdad and Tehran.
It
is now established that he has been playing a key role in setting up
and supporting the Shia militia groups battling so-called Islamic State
(IS) fighters in Iraq.
The recapture of the city of Tikrit from
IS after a year of occupation marked a successful example of joint
military action involving the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the mainly
Shia militias and the Iraqi army.
In Syria too, Iranian support for the army and militia groups, including Tehran's ally Hezbollah, seems to be an open secret.
The Iranian media regularly report funerals of Revolutionary Guards commanders killed in Syria as well as Iraq.
And
this summer's flood of refugees and migrants into Europe has included
many young Afghan Hazaras, who have described to BBC Persian how they
were recruited by Iran into special Shia militia brigades and sent to
the front line in Syria.
Their stories back up claims widely reported and pictured on social media this year.
In July, Gen Soleimani apparently resurfaced in Russia where reports
- neither confirmed nor denied by Tehran and Moscow - said he was
beginning to put in place the plans that led to this week's Russian
offensive. Image caption
Maj Gen Qasem Soleimani is thought to have held talks with the Russians
Qasem Soleimani:
Born: 11 March 1957
Since
1998 he has been commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite
Quds Force, reporting directly to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei.
Has emerged from a lifetime in the shadows directing covert operations abroad to achieve almost celebrity status in Iran.
Since 2012 he has helped bolster the Syrian government, a key Iranian ally, during the Syrian civil war.
Also
assisted in the command of combined Iraqi government and Shia militia
forces that advanced against so-called Islamic State.
Visited Moscow in July to discuss possible Russian military intervention in Syria. Gen Qasem Soleimani: Iran’s rising star
There has been no official comment from Tehran so far on the Russian operation.
But
the tone of Iranian media reporting about it has been overwhelmingly
positive, with much stress on the fact that it is happening as part of a
joint coalition against IS, along with Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Russia's intervention means Iran is no longer the only foreign state to have militarily intervened in support of Bashar Assad. Image caption
President Rouhani is said to want a closer relationship with the US
It can now claim to be part of a major new military alliance with a former world superpower as an ally.
From
the Iranian perspective, Russian intervention opens up a new
possibility to challenge the US-dominated world order - something Iran's
hardliners have dreamed of for decades.
But they are not the only ones celebrating Russia's intervention.
According
to Ahmad Naqibzadeh, a professor of international relations at Tehran
University, it's a development that also suits moderate politicians.
For
them, he explains, Russia's decision to back Bashar Assad and attack
all the groups opposing him means it's more likely all sides in the
Syrian conflict will eventually have to come to the table - without
pre-conditions - to find a political solution to the conflict.
"Convincing
the West to stop insisting on the removal of Bashar Assad from power
would be a victory for Iranian foreign policy and would then facilitate
the normalisation of ties between Iran and the West," he told the BBC.
'Eternal enemy'
According
to Mr Naqibzadeh, key policymakers around Iran's President Rouhani are
also hoping the Russian campaign might actually bring the US and Iran
closer together.
In a bid to persuade Iran not to throw
everything behind Russia, they think the US could adopt a more
conciliatory policy, he explains, and this would give Iran the
opportunity the moderates are looking for to break out of the current
isolation.
Judging by Ayatollah Khamenei's latest remarks, rapprochement with the US is the last thing on his mind.
An
Iranian academic close to President Rouhani, and speaking to the BBC on
condition of anonymity, says the idea of normalising ties between Iran
and the US is something that deeply worries the Ayatollah. Image caption
Iran's Supreme Leader is thought to be less sure about normalising ties with the US
"He believes the Americans are waiting for an 'Iran
without Khamenei' in order to take Iran completely into their camp," the
academic said.
The Ayatollah is the ultimate decision-maker in
Iran's foreign policy, and he has made clear that he sees the US as an
eternal enemy.
But the irony is not lost on many observers both
inside and outside the country, that in order to combat one old enemy,
the US, and to rescue his Syrian ally, Mr Khamenei is now turning to
Russia, a country with which Iran shares a much longer history of
adversity.
In the coming months, Iranians will be watching to see
if the Ayatollah's gamble pays off, or whether Mr Putin's entry into the
fray will draw Iran and its allies even deeper into the Syrian
quagmire.
Two explosions at a peace
rally in the Turkish capital Ankara have killed at least 30 people, the
interior ministry says. Another 126 have been injured.
TV footage shows scenes of panic and people lying on the ground covered in blood, amid protest banners.
The blasts took place near the city's central train station as people gathered for a march organised by leftists groups.
The pro-Kurdish HDP party was among those attending the rally.
Government
officials say the blasts were a terrorist attack and are investigating
reports that a suicide bomber was behind at least one of the explosions.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is being briefed by the interior and health ministers, state news agency Anadolu says.
The leader of the HDP has blamed the state for the attack, and cancelled all election rallies.
The HDP was among those joining Saturday's rally for
"peace and democracy", called for by the confederation of trades
unions, which was due to start at 12:00 local time.
The party tweeted that there were "numerous dead and injured", and that police "attacked" people carrying the injured away.
Local
resident Emre told the BBC that he heard two separate explosions and
saw a number of dead bodies. Angry people tried to attack police cars,
he said. An HDP rally in the city of Diyarbakir was bombed in June, ahead of general elections.
Turkey
is holding another election next month, and the BBC's Mark Lowen in
Istanbul says it was feared that another similar attack was imminent.
The HDP entered parliament for the first time in June's inconclusive elections. A suicide bombing by suspected Islamic State militants on a gathering of Socialist youth activists in the town of Suruc on the Syrian border killed at least 30 people in July.
A
ceasefire between the Kurdish militant group the PKK and Turkey's
government later broke down, and there have been regular attacks from
both sides since then.
Nigerians living in the northeast region and other parts of the country have been asked to keep a lookout for cluster bombs.
A statement issued by the Acting Director Defence Information, Colonel Rabe Abubakar, says that the Nigerian Army engineers serving in Adamawa State have recovered some caches of these bombs in recent time.
The statement added that the military high command has discovered that the Boko Haram terrorists in the areas have used such lethal instruments over time.
According to Colonel Abubakar, for easy identification, it is important to note that cluster bombs are bombs that house ‘submunitions’, that is, smaller explosives contained in individual cases.
The bombs are used against large areas containing many targets, such as columns of vehicles, marketplaces, places of worship or large troop concentration as the case may be.
The Northern States Governors’ Forum has inaugurated a committee to
search for sponsors of the Boko Haram sect as well as prosecute them.
The Chairman of the Forum, Governor Kashim Shettima who inaugurated
the committee at Kaduna State House, Kawo, on Friday, also said the days
of the sect are numbered considering the dislodgement of its members
from their strongholds by the military.
Shettima said the committee which would operate under the aegis of
the Committee of Attorneys-General and Commissioners of Justice of the
19 northern states had the mandate to review the criminal justice system
in the region as agreed by the northern governors during their last
meeting.
He said the inauguration of the committee has become imperative
considering the complex problems of insurgency, cattle rustling, armed
robbery, inciting preaching, and kidnapping confronting the northern
states, adding that the panel has two months to complete its assignment.
He said: “The committee should also look at the condemnable
activities of the so called sponsors of the insurgency and come up with
legally pragmatic, appropriate and proportionate punishment. The
committee should also focus specifically on parents who because of
pittance sacrifice their children as suicide bombers. Such parents must
be made to face the full wrath of the law.”
Specifically, the Borno State Governor said the committee should
conduct a “thorough and meticulous review of the penal code as it exists
with a view to pointing out its weaknesses and constraints in the
overall administration of Criminal Justice System in the Northern
states.
A 42-year-old man, Rafiu Olusamokun, is currently in the custody of
the Lagos State Police Command for allegedly producing fake foreign and
local currencies, which allegedly run into millions of Naira.
Our correspondent learnt that Olusamokun, an indigene of Owo, Ondo
State, was arrested by the police in his house at Ayidolapo Street, in
the Ikotun area of the state.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the suspect, who was a motor mechanic
before allegedly venturing into production of fake currencies, worked
with some people who were still at large.
It was learnt that the police recovered an iron box full of fake
dollars, pounds and naira notes from Olusamokun. Some materials such as
cotton wool, paints and oil, allegedly used in the production of the
money, were also recovered by the police.
Speaking with PUNCH Metro, the suspect said he was introduced into
the business by some men who claimed to have newly returned from Europe.
Olusamokun said the men brainwashed him and forced him to pay about
N600,000 to purchase the materials to produce the fake currencies.
He said, “I met those people early this year. I was working as a
motor mechanic, and I just ran into them. They said they recently
returned from Europe. When I visited them at a hotel in the Bar Beach,
Victoria Island area, they brought out the samples of the currencies
they had, and said I could produce same if I wanted to become wealthy.
I was immediately interested. A friend, Sule Sulaimon, who went with
me, also became interested. Their leader said all I needed to do was to
purchase the chemicals from them. He said I should bring N1m, but I
eventually paid N650,000 for the chemicals.
“I did not know the samples they gave me were fake; the papers looked
so original. I first gave him N400,000, and then N250,000. He said I
could reproduce as much hard currencies as I wanted from the materials I
had.
“The currencies recovered from my house runs into millions, but I was
not through with the reproduction. If I had finished with it, I would
have been a wealthy man. I would have evaded the arrest.”
A police source told our correspondent that Olusamokun was to give
part of the money reproduced to the syndicate, so that he could be given
more materials. He added that the police were still on the trail of the
group.
“The syndicate gave him the materials and the currencies to wash into
original. The money is actually worth millions. He was producing €100
and €200 and pounds. The police found the fake cash in his house,” he
said.
The Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said the suspect would be charged to court as soon as investigations were over.
“The police will continue to ensure that we reduce crimes to the barest minimum in the state,” he added.
Source: Punch
Removal of ex-NHS psychologist Fatima Akilu sparks concerns that UK and
EU-funded programme may be mothballed
NHS-trained psychologist Dr Fatima Akilu
The future of a UK-backed programme to de-radicalise Boko Haram Islamists in Nigeria is in doubt after the British-trained expert who set it up was abruptly sacked by the country's new government.
Fatima Akilu, an NHS-trained psychologist who was educated at a
boarding school in Kent, set up a pioneering national scheme to
rehabilitate Boko Haram members and spread counter-extremist messages.
Retired Major General Babagana Monguno Photo: Reuters
Ms Akilu has now been replaced by a colonel in the military, robbing
the programme not only of its chief architect but also its civilian
face. The programme had been designed to be civilian-led so as to have
greater success in winning the confidence of insurgents. It had been
funded by the EU to the tune of £5.6 million and an unknown amount by
the UK.
There are concerns now that without its original backer,
the scheme may end up being quietly sidelined, depriving Nigeria of its
only counter-extremism scheme. A source close to the government told
the Telegraph: "The decision to remove Fatima came without any warning
and now she has been replaced by a military man that nobody has heard
of.
"Her staff are not happy about what has happened, and many are considering whether to stay or not."
The question marks over the programme come as Boko Haram continues to pose a major threat to Nigeria, despite Mr Buhari's pledges to crush it.
On Monday, the group claimed responsibility for multiple suicide
bombings over the weekend that killed 18 people around the capital,
Abuja. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari Photo: AFP
Ms Akilu, who was educated at the Beechwood Sacred Heart boarding
school in Tunbridge Wells, set up the scheme last year at the invitation
of Mohammad Sambo Dasuki, a national security adviser under the previous president, Goodluck Jonathan.
She had previously been working as a children's author and adviser to
troubled teenagers, but caught Mr Dasuki's attention after writing a
series of articles on the importance of education in drawing Nigerian
youngsters away from trouble.
The programme focused partly on
educating young Nigerians about the dangers of radicalisation in the
first place, and also on trying to rehabilitate the thousands of Boko Haram suspects
already in jail. Suspects would be challenged by imams on their radical
views, and also given access to sports facilities and classes in
computing and craft skills.
It was considered to be innovative
in Nigeria, where "hearts and minds" has never been a strong aspect of
counter-terrorism strategy. A still from a video released by extremist group Boko Haram Photo: AFP/Getty Images
"The project was just beginning to bear fruit," said the source. "At
first the Boko Haram prisoners wouldn't even talk to us, but we had
reached the point where both were at least taking part in the programme.
Some of the ex-commanders were even telling us about other commanders
in other jails that might also be persuaded to take part."
News
of Ms Akilu's removal first emerged on social media in Nigeria, and has
been the subject of much speculation since. Some believe that Mr Buhari,
who was elected on pledges to take a tough approach with Boko Haram, is
not convinced that "softer" strategies work. Others say he may not even
have been aware of her removal.
Another theory is that she was the victim of score settling between the Jonathan and Buhari camps, which date back to Mr Buhari's brief time as military ruler of Nigeria in the mid-1980s.
Ms Akilu's ex-boss, Mr Dasuki, is said to have been among a team of
soldiers who arrested Mr Buhari shortly after his overthrow that year.
This summer, three of Mr Dasuki's houses were raided on suspicion that
he was involved in "undermining" national security, leading to him
eventually being charged with possession of an unlicensed pistol. The
Nigerian government denies that there has been any kind of witch hunt.
A Western official linked Ms Akilu's removal to the wider clear-out
in the NSA, but said there had been problems with the programme in the
first place. "Fatima set the programme up and had a lot of good ideas,
but there were some shortcomings, partly in her team's own capacity to
run it, and partly in the lack of buy-in from the Nigerian military, who
at the end of day need to be onside for this kind of thing.
"We
hope that the programme will continue, and that this can become an
opportunity to get more buy-in from the military and make it better than
it was."
An EU source said: "We are maintaining close contact
with the office of the national security adviser staff and with the
technical assistants working on the EU funded activities to evaluate the
impact of the recent staff changes."
The Nigerian government did not respond to requests for comment.
