NAIJAFEED

Monday, June 21, 2010

NDLEA discovers cocaine in sandals, arrests four suspects

National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has apprehended a Spain-based Nigerian, Ezeugha Sunny, for trying to smuggle one kilogramme of cocaine inside his sandals.

The suspect was detected during routine check on Iberia flight on Wednesday when he carefully packed the cocaine in two 500-gramme parcels and neatly hid in a pair of sandals he was putting on at the time of screening.

Three other suspects, Abuku Prince Kennedy, 26; Oparaji Anthony, 40, who lives in Spain and Tochukwu Christopher Okeke, 35, who lives in Monrovia, Liberia, were tested positive to drug ingestion.

NDLEA Airport commander, Hamza Umar, said Okeke swallowed 45 pieces of narcotic substances on his way to Liberia. He was to board Arik flight when he was tested positive to drug ingestion.

Anthony ingested 71 wraps while Kennedy swallowed 45 wraps.

Hamza, who said the suspects were still on observation to expel the drugs in their stomach, warned drug traffickers to stop their nefarious activities.

Sunny, a factory worker in Spain, claimed to have been given pair of sandals by a contact in Lagos.

In his words, "I work in Spain but I lost my job some months ago. Though I am single, it is difficult to cope in Europe without a job. It is joblessness that led me into drug trafficking. I needed money for my upkeep and when they told me that the drug will be inside my sandals. I felt it was a good plan to escape arrest. But my desire did no work out." The suspect hails from Anambra State and is said to have lived in Madrid for over 10 years.

Chairman of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, attributed the seizure to dedication and excellent profiling techniques applied by undercover officers of the agency at the airport.

Giade said, "The seizure is unique and the dedication of the officers must be commended. Drug barons will have their drug concealment methods discovered because we are prepared and committed to our duty of drug control. Regular training in both interdiction techniques and passenger profiling is also our strength".

He also said jobless Nigerians living in Europe were fast becoming the targets of drug barons and advised them to return home and be legitimately employed rather than smuggle drugs and end up in prison custody.

He said suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigation is completed.

Daily Champion

Sani Kaita receiving death threats

Death threats are being sent to Super Eagles player, Sani Kaita over earning a red card during the World Cup match against Greece last Thursday.

However, news close to the Eagles' camp has it Nigeria is not taking this lying low and a course of action is being mapped out to protect the midfielder.

Kaita told the German news agency that he had received death threats via email, and team Media Officer Idah Peterside said the NFF had written an official letter to FIFA and the Nigerian government.

"He has received over 1000 threats to his email, so we are not taking this lightly.

"We have spoken to the Nigerian Minister of Sports to inform him about the situation, and we are also writing to FIFA to notify them," Peterside said.He added that the minister and other Nigerian officials were disappointed at the situation.

"Here is somebody on national service who is trying to do his best. For people to threaten his life is shocking and disappointing.

"He is shaken, but is getting support from his team mates and team officials."

This Day

84 year old woman arrested for selling babies

The weather was cool this Thursday evening as it had rained for hours in some areas of the Lagos metropolis while other areas were bone dry as usual and commuters were bracing up for the notorious gridlock which gets worse when it rains.

They were not unduly perturbed because though the homeward journey was going to be long but the weather was cool. Then along came a newspaper vendor displaying an evening paper with the headline: "Lagos Shuts Baby Factory: Woman, 84, Arrested For Selling Babies". All eyes were drawn to the paper and a commuter, Iyke, bought a copy to read.

"Wonders will never cease in Nigeria. Abracadabra, the more you look, the less you see. That has been our experience in this part of the globe," commented Iyke.

"O boy, read it out loud please," a number of commuters pleaded with Iyke who said tongue-in-cheek: "You guys should not disturb me. After all you saw the vendor or do you think the papers are for decoration? They are for sale, so go and buy your own," thereupon he began to read the story aloud to the hearing of all.

"This is insane! How can an old woman who is close to her grave and should be making peace with God turn something meant to be a blessing into a curse? Was the orphanage home registered by government?" Femi wanted to know.

"Yes, the report said she was granted license by the state government some years ago to operate the orphanage," Iyke replied, adding: "But trust our people to exploit every loophole. The 84-year-old woman built an unapproved maternity centre where babies are delivered and also a school in the same place."

"Wait a minute, where were the government agencies in charge of all these things all the while? They just issue licence and no follow up and that gives people the chance to do whatever they want," noted Jossie. "I believe they would have discovered these atrocities if they had been up and doing. I hate the lackadaisical attitude of the average civil servant. Nobody cares.

I shudder to think about the fate of those unfortunate kids that had been sold, maybe to ritualists."

"Money is everything in this part of the world so people go to any length to make it. My question is, how was she getting those pregnant girls to deliver and sell their babies to her?" asked TJ.

"They may be young ladies who got pregnant and were afraid to go home to face their parents; so such people are grateful to whoever will take care of them and keep the baby at the end of the day so they could go on with their lives," answered Ify.

"It is possible that she recruits young boys and girls and pay them peanuts for the purpose of breeding babies for her. Much the same way you breed animals for sale, like what happened during the slave trade. It's just so sad how low we have sunk," lamented Eunice.

"All these are possible because of the 'I don't care' attitude of our leaders who are busy stealing and stashing our money in foreign banks while we are here suffering. Young people are ready to do anything to keep body and soul together. So unscrupulous elements in the society exploit these loopholes," said Kate.

"This is not the first time such a thing would be happening. Some years ago, it was one orphanage home somewhere in Isolo, Lagos State which was shut down and the operators arrested. Nobody knows what became of them. I hope the ministry concerned would henceforth live up to its responsibilities and government should provide them with all they need to discharge their duties creditably," counselled Ken.

"The public should also be at alert. If they see such evil going on in their environment, they should alert the security agencies or the relevant arm of government as it happened in this case. This evil must stop," said Iyke.

"The woman said she only gives out babies who were not wanted by their mothers, and that she never asked the prospective adoptive parents to pay but asks for donations of between N100,000 and N200,000. So what do you call that?" asked Zuby.

"It's wickedness, pure and simple, no other name for it," replied Ken.

Vanguard

Friday, June 18, 2010

Goodluck Jonathan on a mission to stem the rise of kidnappings

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan vowed on Thursday to stem the rising spate of kidnappings in the country which he said was a "menace" to development.

"The issue of kidnapping is a problem that the government must tackle frontally and I have decided that we will tackle it frontally," Jonathan said during a meeting of leaders of his ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja.

"We can no longer continue to live in a society where even if your wife is going to church, you have to look for an APC (Armoured Personnel Carrier) to follow her. If the children are going to school, you have to look for machine gun-carrying security people to follow them," he said.

Kidnappings for ransom by criminal gangs which used to be restricted to the country's oil-producing south, have recently spread to the south-east Igbo region.

The police said last week more than 300 suspected kidnappers, mostly the Igbo ethnic community, had been arrested since February.

Jonathan said the situation in the south-eastern state of Abia was so alarming that the government could no longer accept it.

"I am saying now that we will spend the last money government has to crush this terrible menace because without security we can't even develop," he added.

iol

Plans to introduce the death penalty for Kidnapping underway in Nigeria

Nollywood star Pete Edochie Kidnapped

Kaita shows no remorse

Sani Kaita, after practically kicking dust into the eyes of Nigeria with his unguarded conduct of kicking a Greek player on the thigh in an off the ball incident that earned him a red card, showed no remorse after the 2-1 loss.

Kaita had been praised to high heavens by Lagerback a day before the game and he ended up disappointing him like Judas did to Jesus Christ.

More annoyingly yesterday was the manner that Kaita strolled into the mixed zone blocking his ear drum with his music and aided by Obinna Nsofor to ignore questions from the press.

A motley of journalists had gathered round to find out from the player why he betrayed the Eagles with his conduct. He looked them in the eye and strolled away.

Nigerian journalists begged for comments but he felt bigger than the country and moved on. Technical Committee Chairman of the NFA, Taiwo Ogunjobi, had to literally force him back knowing that it was against FIFA rules to shun the press at the mixed zone of the World Cup, it was too late as more important players came out and occupied the attention of the press.

Back to the match, Greece earned its first World Cup win, coming from behind to beat 10-man Nigeria 2-1 in Group B on Thursday.

Vassilis Torosidis poked home a loose ball in the 71st minute after a mistake from Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama to make history for Greece, which had lost all four previous World Cup matches and never had scored a goal.

Nigeria opened the scoring in the 16th minute at Free State Stadium when Kalu Uche's curling free kick from 35 yards deceived everyone, particularly goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas, who moved the wrong way.

But the game changed in the 33rd minute when Nigeria midfielder Sani Kaita was shown a straight red card for kicking Torosidis.

Striker Dimitris Salpingidis equalized in the 44th minute with a deflected shot before Torosidis' winner.

Nigeria broke through first when Uche's free kick sailed over the heads of Costas Katsouranis and Nigeria's Peter Odemwingie and into the far corner of the net -- with Tzorvas completely fooled.

Odemwingie, who had won the free kick, appeared to pull his head out of the way to allow Uche's curling effort to carry on to the Greece net.

But with Nigeria in control, Kaita's undisciplined move handed Greece its best chance of breaking its World Cup losing streak.

Kaita was sent off by Colombian referee Oscar Ruiz after he kicked out at Torosidis and caught the Greece striker on the upper thigh after the ball went out of bounds.

Greece pressed and made its advantage pay off a minute before halftime when

Salpingidis' shot deflected off the unlucky Lukman Haruna and into his own net.

Enyeama, who won his second successive man of the match award despite the mistake on the winning goal, then made a string of saves in the second half.

But when he fumbled a low shot from Alexandros Tziolis and Torosidis pounced on the loose ball for the crucial goal, Nigeria's chances for advancement just about disappeared.

Vanguard

Related stories: Lagerback finds Greece defeat bitter

Video overview of Group B in the 2010 World Cup

Eagles declare Greece must-win