CRIME NOTE
BY ALEX OLISE, ODITA SUNDAY
LAGOS
INFERNO: A MYSTERIOUS fire incident recently gutted the apartment of a pastor of one of the new generation churches, killing the wife after serious burns. The incident, which occurred at Fola Agoro area, is now being investigated by the State Police Command following the suspicion that surrounds the inferno.
VICTIMIZATION: FROM tomorrow the centre for Law Enforcement Education (CLEEN) in collaboration with the Federal Office of Statistics (FOS) will commence the data collection process for Lagos crime victimization survey for the year 2004. The exercise will be done in 14 selected local government within the state metropolis.
NIGER
BANDITS: Police detectives have arrested three armed robbery suspects believed to be terrorizing residents of Tunga area in recent times. Items recovered from them include one AK47 Assault riffle, 47 live ammunition and a Barreta pistol.
ANAMBRA
SHRINE RAID: More police detectives are now combing different parts of the state in continuation of the ongoing raid of shrines. The fresh search followed reports that there exist other shrines where human beings are killed for ritual purposes.
EBONYI
POLICE: THE Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), had commended state police command on the arrest and subsequent detention of a happy trigger police man, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) who led a team on a sporadic shooting which claimed the life of an undergraduate student of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Chinwendu Micah. The group wants the said policeman prosecuted in line with the law.
DELTA
WEDDING: DETECTIVES in the state police command have recovered two AK47 assault rifle which were stolen from two mobile policemen during a wedding ceremony in Asaba which later turned into sorrow. Meanwhile, the mobile policeman who committed the offence is now being detained at the state criminal investigation department in Asaba.
BANDITS: ARMED robbers recently unleashed t error i n Warri area, killing three persons during their operations. But the State Police Commissioner, Charles Akaya told The Guardian, that his men are on trail of the gang. "There will be no shading space for them", he assured.
CHILDREN: PARENTS of the 64 children allegedly kidnapped have started showing up at the Criminal Investigations Department of the Police Headquarters in Asaba. It was learnt that, last Tuesday, most parents stormed the police headquarters to identify their children who have been in police custody since August 4, when the police intercepted the bus that was taking them to Ugboha in Edo State.
RIVERS
SEA PIRATES: THE Nigerian Navy has moved more of its men into the waterways to tackle sea pirates operating in the creeks. Most of the Noval vessels were stationed within the state water following reports of reasonable presence of sea pirates in the region.
ETHNIC MILITIAS: THE state Police Command recently deployed more of its men into the major mangroves in the state in search of ethnic militias currently threatening peace in the land.
KWARA
CULTISTS: BARELY a week after three cult members were held in Ondo State, the police have arrested 19 students of Kwara State Polytechnic for a similar offence. The Command spokesman, Mr. Marcus Gideon, who confirmed the arrest, said the action followed the alleged confession of a cult member earlier arrested by the police.
DELTA
CHILDRED: PARENTS of the 64 children who were allegedly being kidnapped have started showing up at the Criminal Investigations Department at the Police headquarters in Asaba. It was learnt that last Tuesday most parents stormed the police headquarters to identify their children, who had been in police custody since August 4, when the police intercepted the bus that was taking them to Ugboha in Edo State.
EDO
ARMY, POLICE CLASH: THE report of the four-man committee inaugurated to look into last Saturdays clash between some soldiers and policemen in Benin are ready. Confirming the development, the Command spokesman, Mr. Fatai Kinyomi (DSP) said copies of the report were being sent to other arms of security service in the country. He, however, did not disclose when it would be made public.
KADUNA
ALLEGED FRAUD: BARELY one year in office as the Commissioner for Local Government and chieftaincy Affairs in the State, Alhaji Bello Umar Kagarko, may have landed himself in big trouble over allegation of corruption. The commissioner, according to findings, reportedly diverted the sum of N276 million monthly allocations meant for the state's 46 development centres to an unknown account in the last six months.
IMO
CULTS: THE Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Professor Jude Njoku and top management of the Institution including the two deputy Vice Chancellors in-change of academics and Administration, have come under threat for expelling 94 students of the Institution for their alleged involvement in Cult activities and examination malpractices. The Vice Chancellor made the declaration during a press briefing held to mark his fourth anniversary in office at the Institution's premises in owerri last Tuesday.
