Crime

NAFDAC Arrests Suspected Leader Of Drug Cloning Syndicate

The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), on Thursday said it has arrested a suspected leader of a drug cloning syndicate in Lagos.

Mr Garba Macdonald, NAFDAC Director of Enforcement, told newsmen in Lagos that the suspect was arrested in his house at Orile-Iganmu with various fake drugs worth over N20 million.
 
Macdonald said that the syndicate specialised “in cloning several fast moving drug products, including locally manufactured anti-malaria and pain relieving medicines”.
 
He said that the syndicate had perfected its cloning act in China and, thereafter, imported the cloned drugs into the country.
Macdonald said that the suspect had been placed under NAFDAC's watch list of fake drugs importers for about two years.
He said the agency had begun investigations to unravel his China-based partners.
 
The NAFDAC official said that the agency was determined to take advantage of its collaboration with the Chinese Government in the fight against fake drugs.
 
Macdonald said that every offender would be punished according to his/her country's drug counterfeiting laws.
He said that arrest of the suspect was “a major breakthrough in the fight to stem the activities of the syndicate''.
According to him, through intelligence gathering, it was established that the suspect used his house as a warehouse where the cloned drugs were stored.
 
“Some of the drugs discovered in his possession at the time of arrest were Coartem tablets, Amalar tablets, some unlabeled tablets, Maloxine tablets, Ibuprofen tablets, packaging materials, leaflets and hand sealing machines.”
He noted that the syndicate was currently assisting the agency in its investigation to get to the root of the matter.
 
Macdonald called on Nigerians to report any suspicious activity relating to NAFDAC regulated products around their communities for immediate action. (NAN)
 

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Security Operatives Arrest 251 in Lagos

A combined team of security agencies in Lagos arrested 251 suspected aliens, following a raid on the Gatankowa Market in Abule-Egba, just before midnight on Tuesday.

DSP Ngozi Braide, the Lagos State Police Command's spokesperson, who confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday, said that the raid was jointly carried out by men of the Nigerian Army, Navy, Police and the State Security Service.
 
According to her, those arrested were being screened.
Braide said that the aim was to rid Lagos of aliens who had no justification to be there, as part of efforts to boost security in the state.
 
The spokesperson could, however, not confirm whether arms were recovered during the raid.
Braide denied allegations that the operatives were in the habit of forcefully seizing valuables and money from aliens during such raids.
 
She said that such raids would continue across the state and urged those who were carrying out their legitimate businesses not to panic. (NAN)
 

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CP Says Progress In Investigation Of Killing Of 12 Policemen

Bayelsa Police Command on Thursday said it was making progress on the investigation of the killing of 12 of its men in Bayelsa water ways on Saturday.

Mr Kingsley Omire, Commissioner of Police in Bayelsa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa that the force was doing everything possible to bring the killers to book.
 
“We are doing a lot on the case and our actions will show that we are working and at the appropriate time we will inform the public on the progress.
 
“It will be premature and prejudicial to comment on the number of arrests so far made; at the moment it is not in our strategic interest to make further comments.”
 
It would be recalled that some 50 policemen deployed to provide cover for dignitaries expected at a burial ceremony were attacked by gunmen and 12 policemen lost their lives.
 
The ill-fated boat was heading to Azuzuama, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area for the burial of the mother to Mr Kile Torughedi, an ex-militant leader.
 
Torughedi, who embraced the Federal Government's amnesty, is a Special Assistant to Bayelsa Gov. Seriake Dickson on Maritime Security.
Meanwhile, sources in Azuzuama said that the area had been on the spotlight of security forces as youths from the community had fled for fear of possible arrest.
 
The Joint Task Force and a special Police team from Force Headquarters have intensified patrol in the creeks of Southern Ijaw and environs in search of the remaining two policemen.
 
The Police had on Tuesday recovered 10 mutilated and decomposing remains of the policemen currently kept at the Federal Medical Centre mortuary in Yenagoa.
 
The Police spokesman, ASP Alex Akhigbe, said that the command was consulting the families of the late policemen on plans to give the men befitting burial. (NAN)
 

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Man Kills Wife Over Fear He Had Given Her HIV

An Arizona man charged with stabbing his wife and son to death admitted to committing the crime over fear he had infected her with human immunodeficiency virus and his belief that their son was handicapped.

ABC 15 reports Eugene Maraventano told police he had been with prostitutes and feared he had “contracted HIV or other diseases and passed them onto his wife Janet."
 
The 64-year-old man also told detectives his wife was ill and he was afraid she'd test positive for cancer, so he decided to terminate her life.
 
Court documents indicate Maraventano attacked his wife with a kitchen knife as she was sleeping. He confessed to having considered buying a gun to kill her, but decided not to because "[he's'] not a violent person."
 
After stabbing his wife the suspect allegedly tried to commit suicide, but instead decided to kill his 27-year-old son Bryan. Maraventano told detectives he thought his son was handicapped because he spent too much time playing video games and had no job, friends or a girlfriend. So he went into his son's room and stabbed him twice.
 
According to the medical examiner, Janet and Bryan had been dead for a few days when Maraventano called 911. He is facing two counts of first-degree murder.
 

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JTF Repels Insurgents’ Attack In Yobe

The Joint Task Force (JTF) in Yobe on Monday said it repelled an intended attack by insurgents near Giedam on Sunday.

Lt. Lazarus Eli, the spokesman of the task force, confirmed this to newsmen in Damaturu .

``Suspected terrorists heading towards Geidam town to carry out attacks had an encounter with JTF troops close to Tumbulgi, 11 kilometres north of Geidam, and were successfully repelled."

Lazarus said that details, including casualties, were not readily available.

``We are still working on the details. We will provide you with the details when available,'' he said.

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NSCDC Rescues 32 Pregnant Teenagers Arrests Proprietor In Abia

The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NCSDC) in Abia says it rescued 32 pregnant teenagers from a maternity home at Umuzuo, Osisioma Local Government area of Abia.

Mr Victor Ogbonna, the state NSCDC Public Relations Officer, made this known when he presented the pregnant teenagers rescued the home to newsmen in Umuahia on Wednesday.

Ogbonna said that the proprietor of the centre, Nnenna Mba, and two men - Mba Agbai and Chinwoke Mba , -  who allegedly aided and abated the act, were arrested by the NSCDC.

He said the rescue and arrest took place on April 2, at Umuzuo community while the teenagers and the owner of the home were around.

He said that investigations by NSCDC revealed that victims were induced to sell a baby boy for N100, 000, while a girl goes for N80, 000.

``More investigations conducted showed that the owner of the maternity home, in turn sales the baby boy for N450, 000, and a girl  for N400, 000,’’ he alleged.

Ogbonna said the NSCDC discovered that the home was established in 2009, but got registered with the state government in December 2012.

``In spite of the home being registered with government, investigations by our men revealed that the owner, hides under this to commit evil,’’ he said.

He said that investigations were ongoing in the matter.

Ogbonna said that the relatives of the victims had been contacted to  reunite them with their people.

The proprietor of the home denied claims that she induced the victims to sell their babies.

Mba said the centre officially registered with the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, was meant to assist pregnant teenagers.

Chinwoke Mba, one of the suspects, claimed he was a member of the Abia State Vigilance Service, deployed officially to the centre.

He said that the NSCDC officials overpowered him before the arrest.

``I told them I was posted to the centre officially by vigilance service and since the arrest, the NSCDC officials refused to allow me contact anybody, including the state office of the service,'' he said.

Mr Martins Idika, the Commander-General, Abia State Vigilance Service, told NAN that the unit commander at Osisioma reported case of the arrest of one worker on duty by the officials of NSCDC on April 3.

Idika said the matter would be adequately looked into to ascertain if there was any complicity by the worker.

 

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