Category: Crime

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has revealed that the agency has arrested a 32-year-old female drug trafficker, Oladitan Olufunmilayo, with drugs enroute Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The agency listed the drugs as: Cannabis, Cocaine and Methamphetamine, Tramadol and Rohyphnol concealed in footwears and soap packs

The announcement was made in statement posted on the Facebook on the NDLEA page and signed by the Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi on Sunday.

The statement read in part, “Thursday November 3rd, operatives at the NAHCO export shed of the airport intercepted a consignment of different illicit drugs: Cannabis, Cocaine and Methamphetamine as well as Tramadol 225mg and Rohyphnol concealed in footwears and soap packs going to UAE, Dubai.

” A 32-year-old Olaitan Serah Olufunmilayo who presented the consignment for export was arrested.”

It also revealed that two Pakistani businessmen and two Nigeriens were also arrested for drug trafficking.

The National Drug and Law Enforcement Agency, on Sunday revealed that the agency has arrested two Pakistani businessmen and two Nigeriens for drug trafficking.

The agency made the announcement in statement posted on Facebook and signed by the Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.

It further revealed that the Pakistani men, Asif Muhammed and Hussain Naveed, were arrested with eight kilograms of cocaine concealed in a public address system while they were attempting to board a plane at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.

The Nigeriens on the other hand, Bukar Haruna and his son Saka Haruna, were arrested along the Malumfashi-Zaria road inKatsina State for possessing 20.5kg of cannanbis and 10 grams of exon-5 while heading to Niger Republic.

It was also disclosed that the Nigeriens arrested are father and son, and the father, Bukar Haruna, is a blind man.

THREE persons, including the mother and son of a fleeing suspect, have been reportedly killed at Evwreni, Ughelli North Local Government Area  of Delta State, following a squabble by two residents of the community.

It was gathered that the mother and son were killed in a reprisal attack after one person was allegedly shot dead  during an argument.

Though sources said the incident involved some members of the community’s vigilante team, the state Police Command says it had nothing to do with them.

A source in the community, who sought anonymity, said: “Two vigilantes had a misunderstanding and had exchange of words. Nobody knew what happened; one of them shot  the other one and he died on the spot.”

Saying that the suspect who, he said, is an indigene of a neighboring community fled the area after killing his colleague, the source said some persons “chased the mother of the suspect, poured petrol on her and set her ablaze. They also used the son of the suspect to hit the ground and he died”.

Contacted, Police Public Relations Officer of the State Command, Mr   Bright Edafe, said the incident had nothing to do with vigilante, adding that the police were not aware of any reprisal attack.

He:: “For now, it is only one person that the suspect allegedly killed that they claim that made them went to retaliate. We don’t know if there is retaliation.”

A gang of hackers, OPERA1ER, stole at least $11m from companies in Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, 11 other African countries, and Argentina.

This is according to a new report from Group-IB, a cybersecurity firm, entitled, “OPERA1ER: Playing God without permission,” in collaboration with the researchers from Orange CERT Coordination Center.

The firm disclosed that digital forensic artifacts analysed by it and Orange followed more than 30 successful intrusions of the gang between 2018 and 2022.

The company’s data revealed that companies in Ivory Coast were the most targeted.

It said this helped it to trace affected organisations in Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Cameroon, Bangladesh, Gabon, Niger, Nigeria, Paraguay, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Togo, and Argentina.

It added that while it estimated that the gang stole $11m, it could have actually stolen as high as $30m.

It stated, “The report takes a deep dive into financially motivated attacks of the prolific French-speaking threat actor, codenamed OPERA1ER.

“Despite relying solely on known ‘off-the-shelf’ tools, the gang managed to carry out more than 30 successful attacks against banks, financial services, and telecommunication companies mainly located in Africa between 2018 and 2022. OPERA1ER is confirmed to have stolen at least $11m, according to Group-IB’s estimates.

“One of OPERA1ER’s attacks involved a vast network of 400 mule accounts for fraudulent money withdrawals. Researchers from the Group-IB European Threat Intelligence Unit identified and reached out to 16 affected organizations so they could mitigate the threat and prevent further attacks by OPERA1ER.”

According to the firm, the report was completed in 2021 when the threat actor was active. Head of cyber threat research at Group-IB Europe, Rustam Mirkasymov, said, “Detailed analysis of the gang’s recent attacks revealed an interesting pattern in their modus operandi: OPERA1ER conducts attacks mainly during the weekends or public holidays.

“It correlates with the fact that they spend from 3 to 12 months from the initial access to money theft. It was established that the French-speaking hacker group could operate from Africa. The exact number of the gang members is unknown.”

Eighteen people were killed in different communities by suspected herders in the Guma Local Government Area of Benue State.

The incident, according to locals, happened on Thursday at Ukohol and other adjourning villages as the suspected herders went on killing spree.

A resident of the area identified only as Jonah who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of attack said those who invaded the communities were herders.

He stated, “They came to Ukohol community at about 5pm yesterday (Thursday) which was a market day and shot at people from different directions, leading to people scampering for safety.’’

Confirming the incident, chairman of the council area, Mike Ubah, said that 18 corpses had been recovered.

He said, “My people at Ukohol were attacked by armed herders and killed about 10 people. The worst of it is that they even killed children below the age of two. They didn’t stop but went to three villages and settlements and killed another eight, making 18 victims. They killed 10 at the market and eight in the villages when they (herders) were returning.

“The security operatives were prompt and that’s what saved the day. If they had delayed, the casualty figure would have been more. It was a market day. They went there and started shooting. What is happening now is that they are trying to displace people from their villages and occupy the places. The herders appeared in black attire. No village is spared and the 10 council wards in Guma are affected.’’

Contacted, the state police spokesperson, Catherine Anene, confirmed the incident, stating that there were no details yet on the case. He said, “Incident confirmed but no details yet.’

An official of the National Examination Council, NECO, identified as Vincent Odinko, has been reportedly killed by unidentified gunmen during an attack on the staff quarters of the University of Ibadan.

It was gathered that Odinko, who resided in the boys quarters was killed, while his personal items, which included a phone and a laptop were carted away.

The gunmen, it was learnt, broke into the BQ of a staff building where Odinko lived with his family.

Odinko was working with the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination Internal Unit, Ibadan branch of NECO.

The police are yet to give detail of the incident as of the time of filing this report.

Meanwhile, the Oyo State Police Public Relations Officer, Adewale Osifeso, said investigations had commenced to discover the detail of the incident.

“Investigations have since commenced. Updates would be provided, please,” Osifeso is quoted to have said.

Bawa, who refused to disclose the identity of the three governors, however, said two of them are from the North, while the 3rd one is from the southern part of the country.

He said intelligence at the disposal of the commission, showed that the three governors have concluded plans to inject the money into the system through table payment of their state workers’ salaries.

“Let me tell you something, the Intel that I have yesterday and I would want you to take this thing very seriously. Already, some state governors that have some of this cash stashed in various houses and the rest are now trying to pay salaries in cash in their state,” he said. Asked whether the commission would summon the governors, the EFCC chair said they are closely monitoring them.

He added that “I don’t know how they want to achieve that but we have to stop them from doing that. Well, we are working, they have not paid the salaries in cash yet but it is a very serious thing”, saying the move is against section 2 of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act.

“The law is very clear regarding cash transactions. Anybody that is to consummate any cash transaction as an individual, if it is not through a financial institution must not be above N5million and if it is above that it is criminal for you to engage in such transaction. And for corporate entities it is N10million.

“Yes, I agree the salaries are not up to that but why are you all of a sudden, and all along you have been paying people salaries through their bank accounts and now you want to pay them in cash, what are you trying to do? They will come under a lot of guises, they are trying to do verification of officers, that is what we have gotten,” he said.

Disposing of stashed funds through property

The EFCC boss also confirmed the mad rush by some people to dispose of their stashed funds by buying property.

“We are aware of that. Even if you dispose of your property and you receive cash, for that cash to be of value to you after January 31, 2023, you have to take it to the bank; so what happened, are you coming to the bank with those millions? That is why we are working with the bankers and if you have this information let us know about it,” he said.

Raids of BDCs to continue

He said the raids of BDC operators would continue. This he said, is very important to protect the system against the laundering of stashed funds.

“They (BDCs) are very important in the sense that a lot of people that have this naira cash, will want to convert them to USD or other foreign currencies, that is why they are very important.

“And based on the known gullibility of these people (BDCs), they are willing to accept this cash from the owners of these monies and they are willing to depart with the foreign currencies that they have and so that is why they are very important and very critical to us in this project that we said to ourselves that we are going to do,” he said. When Bawa’s attention was drawn to the fact that the dollar was rising despite the EFCC raids, he said it is a function of demand and supply.

“The truth of the matter here is just a simple function of demand and supply, people are rushing this commodity not that they are going to use it for any meaningful business engagement but they are just rushing for it, just a store of value, that is what is happening.

“And what they say in economics is the higher the demand, the higher the price; so people are just seeing USD or other hard currencies just the way that they are seeing gold, to get it exchanged and store their value,” he said.

Why I met chief compliance officers of banks

On why he met chief compliance officers of banks in Lagos recently, he said the parley was part of efforts to properly monitor the system and to seek their collaboration in respect of the likelihood of people bringing in their illegitimate funds back to the system.

“We knew a lot of people are hoarding these funds, it is with them and they will always find a way of trying to bring it back to the system.

“So, irrespective of what they use their cash for, whether they exchange it for dollars, whether they use it to purchase houses for those that are willing to accept cash, it has to eventually come back to the financial institution. So, irrespective of what you do, the banks are very important and critical in the sense that they are the end recipients of this cash.