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Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
July 27, 2013
BRIEFS Randy pastor banished for defiling sister, daughter
T
he Asaba Elders’ Forum in Umudaike quarters, Asaba, yesterday banished a randy pastor identified as Boniface (surname withheld) over alleged sexual intercourse with his sister and daughter. Speaking on the issue, one of the elders, Ogbueshi Philip Morka, said the lid of his randy activities was blown open by his younger sister who turned down his request for sex. The Elders’ Forum said, “We have asked the man to leave our land as it is a taboo for any man to sleep with his blood sister and daughter,” adding that the pastor had also been caught burying strange substances at the house of a sick person he had gone to pray for. It was reliably gathered that the self-acclaimed man of God hails from Ogbaru, Anambra State, where he was allegedly banished to after confessing to have killed several kids after afflicting them with a strange ailment. The randy pastor was said to have moved to Asaba through a friend who allegedly acquired magical powers for healing in India to establish a church around Umudaike quarters where they have performed several miracles.
Grandmother sells eight-month-old baby
M
en of the Plateau State Police Command have rescued an eight-month old baby girl, who was allegedly sold by her grandmother in Jos, Plateau State. The baby was sold in Jos a few weeks ago, but was rescued in Onitsha, Anambra on Wednesday by men of the ‘A’ Division of the state police after a complaint by the mother and a tip-off by some members of the public. According to a police source, the mother of the baby was impregnated by her boyfriend while she was staying with her grandmother at Rukuba area of Bassa Local Government. The grandmother was said to have been displeased with the birth of the baby and sought to dispose of her secretly. She was said to have found an ally in a woman living at Army Engineers area of Jos North, whom she sold the baby to. The woman was said to have resold the baby to another women in Onitsha, using an intermediary. The baby was again sold to yet another woman in Onitsha, who again resold her to another woman in the same city. The source said, “The baby was rescued after a painstaking investigation because she was sold and resold many times. Our men went to Onitsha and they came back with the baby in the early hours of Thursday. (www.gazellenews.com)
Crime Watch Siege of the under-aged The gun found on me is for self defence. I have a lot of enemies -17-yr-old student SEGUN ADIO AND CHRIS NJOKU OWERRI
M
eshach Okeke, a Secondary School 1 student in Owerri, Imo State recently shocked police high command in the state when he declared to them that the shot gun found on him was meant to defend himself from aggression of any kind in his neighbourhood. Okeke, 17, was recently paraded along with some others, for cult related activities, armed robbery and gang rape. Okeke and three of his gang were arrested on their way to attend the burial of a friend who was allegedly electrocuted. Upon his arrest by members of the vigilance group guarding the area, a shot gun was found in the inner pocket of his trousers. Also, two cutlasses were reportedly found in a school bag in the custody of one of his other friends who was arrested along with him. Okeke, who hails from Ihitte Uboma in Mbano Local Government Area, said in his confessional statement, “We were arrested when we were travelling for the burial of one of our friends who died of electrocution, but the burial could not hold because it was postponed. The shot gun does not belong to me. It actually belongs to one of my friends. “Actually, I asked my friend to borrow me the gun because I have a lot of enemies in the place where we were going for the burial. So, I thought I needed to defend myself in case I was attacked. It is not true that I was going to rob with the gun,” Okeke said. But his claims were countered by some residents of the area where he was arrested. According to a resident identified as Charles, “The boy is notorious and that fact is well known in the community. He
Suspected cultists cum armed robbers
must have been using the gun to terrorise and carry out his nefarious activities before he was caught,” he said. Amadi Onyewuchi and Cyril Nwoke, both from World Bank in Owerri West Local Government Area of the state were also arrested the same day and detained for being in possession of dangerous weapons and for cult-related activities. While two axes were found in a big bag in Onyewuchi’s custody, some charms and three cutlasses were found in Nwoke’s handbag. Nwoke, 19, did not mince words about their mission that fateful night. He admitted to being a member of a secret cult in his school. He also said that he and Onyewuchi were to be joined by six of their gang members from other parts of the metropolis. Nwoke confessed that he and his partnersin-crime were on a revenge mission to a school in a village some 70 kilometres from Owerri. He said, “We are not robbers, but we belong to a cult gang in the area. We were not going for robbery as is being said. We were actually on a revenge mission at another village far from Owerri. “Our girl friend was beaten and injured
by another group of cult members. That we could not stomach because it was a challenge to us. So we decided to go for a revenge mission. But we had not even got to where we intended to go before the vigilance group arrested us and took us for robbers.” Speaking on the arrest of the suspects, spokesperson of the Imo State Police Command, Joy Elemoko, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, expressed worry of the rising rate of cultism in the state, saying that most of the suspects were secondary school students. According to Elemoko, “Majority of the suspects in our custody are mainly secondary school students, aged between 17 and 22. We have found that they operate as both links and major actors in kidnapping, armed robbery, assassinations, gang rapping and drug peddling and other crimes committed in the state lately. DSP Elemoko said these cult gangs were major causes of the problems facing the state because, “they act without any remorse or conscience,” adding that the groups had been terrorising the state in the past four months.
Teenage robbers terrorise Bariga residents SEGUN ADIO
R
esidents of Alubarika Street in Bariga area of Lagos State did not bargain for what they received in the hands of suspected armed robbers on Thursday, July 18, 2013. Five suspected teenage robbers, reportedly armed with different kinds of weapons, invaded the community threatening to kill whoever dared them in their ‘operation.’ Azuka Ossai and four others stormed two streets in the area, breaking into houses and dispossessing residents of their valuables. According to witnesses, shortly after midnight, a night guard reported suspicious movements of strange faces in the
area and alerted some elders close, by but no serious thought was given to his alarm. But around 1:00a.m, a couple of gunshots were heard around Keke Street, which apparently sent many residents jumping off their beds and wondering what was amiss. The teenagers reportedly moved from one house to the other, beating their victims and forcefully collecting their mobile telephones, jewellery, cash and other valuables. The raid reportedly lasted about an hour. At the end of the day, no fewer than five houses were raided, while several households were dispossessed of their prized items. But when the five suspected robbers were carrying out the raid on the firth building, some residents mustered enough courage to alert law enforcement agents.
When the law enforcement arrived, the robbers took to their heels. But Ossai was not lucky after all. He tried to escape from the balcony of the house he was operating in, but he was overpowered by some residents. Ossai reportedly got the beating of his life before he was handed over to the police. Ossai confessed his crime, saying that his gang had carried out series of robbery attacks in different parts of Somolu and Bariga areas of the state. The suspect was promptly taken into police custody. A police source confirmed Ossai’s detention but declined to comment while the search for his accomplices is ongoing. A female Constable, however, told Saturday Mirror that Ossai’s gang has been a thorn in the flesh of residents of the area for a long time.
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