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Army arrests oil theft suspects, destroys 14 boats in Abia

Published

5 months ago

June 22, 2024

FILE: Twenty- five suspected oil thieves handed over to the Port Harcourt Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, by the Nigerian Navy, Forward Operating Base, Bonny Island, Rivers State, are being quizzed for their alleged involvement in illegal oil bunkering.

Army arrests oil theft suspects, destroys 14 boats in Abia

The Nigerian Army on Friday, destroyed about 14 illegal oil bunkering vessels arrested with stolen crude oil in the oil-bearing Asa Community of Abia.

The Army operatives set the vessels ablaze, including eight large Cotonou boats, at Isimmiri Waterside in Ukwa West Local Government Area.

The General Officer Commanding, GOC, 82 Division, Maj.-Gen. Hassan Dada, who led the operation, told newsmen that six suspects were arrested in connection with the illegal oil bunkering.

Mr Dada, who was accompanied by the Commander, 14 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Ohafia, Brig.-Gen. Olusola Diya, said that the suspects had been handed over to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps for further investigations and prosecution.

He said that the Army was at the creek in respect of carrying out one of the mandates of Operation Udoka, “which is to make sure that any form of economic sabotage does not happen within its joint operation area.

“We have been here since Thursday, conducting operations against saboteurs that are trying to take out the crude oil that is the mainstay of our economy,” he said.

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Mr Dada also said that the operation was based on intelligence report, adding that the suspects had attempted to start siphoning the crude from the pipeline, before they were arrested.

He further said that the suspects had sunk some crude oil-laden boats in the water before the troops got there, adding that, the troops were in the process of recovering others.

The GOC said that all the 14 boats were destroyed, in line with the Standing Operating Procedure.

“The person that is involved in this particular location is on the run presently but we will get him, it’s just a matter of time.

“This is more of a cartel and we believe that a lot of people are actually involved.

“The proceeds are being used to finance these acts of terrorism.

“But as a note of warning, this is just the beginning.

“We will continue with this operation and make sure no stone is left unturned.

“The Nigerian Army will in no way tolerate any form of sabotage to the economy of this country,” Mr Dada said.

Army arrests oil theft suspects, destroys 14 boats in Abia

NAN

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Notorious cultist, Pelele, gunned down in Rivers

Published

2 hours ago

November 17, 2024

Trends Admin

Notorious cultist, Pelele, gunned down in Rivers

Operatives of the Rivers State Police Command have successfully neutralized a suspected cultist and kidnapper, Gbarani Bume, popularly known as Pelele, in Luawii Community, Khana Local Government Area.

Bume, a reportedly known member of the Iceland cult group, had allegedly been terrorizing the Beree/Tabaa area of Khana LGA alongside his gang.

The Command’s Public Relations Officer, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the incident in a statement released in Port Harcourt on Sunday.

According to Iringe-Koko, the police acted on intelligence that Pelele and his gang were attempting to abduct a site engineer in Luawii. Upon arrival, the operatives were met with gunfire from the suspects. In the ensuing shootout, Pelele sustained fatal injuries and later died, while his accomplices fled with gunshot wounds.

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The statement reads: “The Rivers State Police Command has made a significant breakthrough in its efforts to combat crime, neutralising a notorious cultist and kidnapper, Gbarani Bume, a.k.a. Pelele, a native of Bere Community in Khana LGA.

“He was a member of the Iceland Cult Group, which has been terrorising the Beree/Tabaa axis of Khana LGA.

“On the 15th of November 2024, operatives from the Bori Division, acting on a tip-off, were mobilised to Luawii Community where Pelele and his gang were attempting to kidnap a site engineer.

“Upon sighting the operatives, the hoodlums opened fire, resulting in a fierce crossfire, during which Pelele was fatally wounded. His accomplices escaped with various degrees of bullet wounds.

“Items recovered from the suspect include one AK-47 rifle, two magazines, and 10 rounds of live ammunition.”

She further stated that investigations are ongoing to track down the fleeing gang members, emphasizing the Command’s commitment to tackling crime and enhancing public safety in the state.

Notorious cultist, Pelele, gunned down in Rivers

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Court stops police from arresting 68 Obaseki’s allies

Published

2 hours ago

November 17, 2024

Trends Admin

Former Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki

Court stops police from arresting 68 Obaseki’s allies

A High Court in Edo State has issued an order restraining the Nigeria Police from arresting 68 associates of former Governor Godwin Obaseki.

The ruling follows a petition submitted by the acting chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state last July.

The affected individuals include political appointees, local government chairmen, and aides, among others.

The case, referenced as B/266M/2024, lists the Inspector General of Police, the state Commissioner of Police, the Deputy Inspector General of Police (Force CID Abuja), and the Police Service Commission (PSC) as respondents. Representing the applicants, senior counsel Olayiwola Afolabi (SAN) sought an interim injunction to prevent the police from arresting his clients.

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Granting the injunction, Justice AT Momodu ruled:
“An order of interim injunction is hereby made restraining the respondents either by themselves, police officers in their department and/or any police officer acting under their instruction from inviting, arresting and detaining the applicants in any of respondents’ office, in respect of the petition written by the chairman of All Progressives Congress (Edo State) dated 18/07/2024 to the 1st respondent pending the hearing and determination of the originating motion filed by the applicants in the enforcement of their fundamental human right.

“It is further ordered that the enrolled order of the order be served along with the originating motion on the respondents.”

The interim order remains in effect until the substantive suit is determined.

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26 dead, 59 missing as Israel hits Gaza, Lebanon in deadly strikes

Published

2 hours ago

November 17, 2024

Trends Admin

26 dead, 59 missing as Israel hits Gaza, Lebanon in deadly strikes

Strikes by the Israel military killed dozens in Gaza on Sunday, the civil defence said, while also hitting a Hezbollah stronghold near Beirut’s international airport.

Israel has been fighting on two fronts since September, intensifying attacks on Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah after nearly a year of cross-border clashes alongside its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

A year after the Gaza war was triggered by Hamas’s October 7 attacks on its south, Israel vowed to stop the Islamist militants from regrouping in the north of the Palestinian territory, launching a major assault there.

In the latest violence in the besieged Palestinian territory, the civil defence agency said Israeli air raids killed at least 46 people.

The deadliest strike, in the middle of the night in Beit Lahia in the north, killed 26 people, including women and children, and left at least 59 others buried under the rubble, said civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal.

Another strike killed 10 people in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, where a separate strike on a house claimed the life of a woman, he said.

An Israeli drone strike killed five people in the southern city of Rafah, Bassal said, adding another strike killed three women and a child in the Nuseirat camp.

Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry on Sunday said the overall death toll in more than 13 months of war had reached 43,846.

The majority of the dead are civilians, according to ministry figures, which the United Nations considers reliable.

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Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

– Lebanon rescuers mourned –

On Israel’s second front in the north, AFPTV footage showed several strikes hit Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold, shortly after the Israeli military warned people to evacuate.

Columns of smoke were seen rising over the capital’s southern suburbs, where Lebanon’s only international airport is located.

Further south, overnight Israeli air strikes and shelling hit the flashpoint town of Khiam, the Lebanese state-run National News Agency reported.

Following the bombardment, the Israeli army said about 20 projectiles were seen crossing from Lebanon into Israel, and that some of them were intercepted. Emergency services did not immediately report any casualties.

Israel has escalated its bombing of Lebanon since September 23 and has since sent in ground troops, following almost a year of limited, cross-border exchanges of fire begun by Hezbollah militants in support of Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.

Its military on Saturday said Hezbollah had already “paid a big price”, but vowed to keep fighting until tens of thousands of Israelis displaced from the north can return home.

Israeli forces also shelled the southern area of Lebanon along the Litani River, the NNA said on Sunday.

The news agency had earlier reported strikes on the southern city of Tyre, including in a neighbourhood near UNESCO-listed ancient ruins. Israel’s military said late Saturday it had hit Hezbollah sites in the area.

In Lebanon’s east, the health ministry said an Israeli strike in the Bekaa Valley killed six people including three children.

Hezbollah said it fired a guided missile that set an Israeli tank ablaze in the southwestern Lebanese village of Chamaa.

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In eastern Lebanon, funerals were held for 14 civil defence staff killed in an Israeli strike on Thursday.

“They weren’t involved with any (armed) party… they were just waiting to answer calls for help,” said Ali al-Zein, a relative of one of the dead.

– Gaza famine alert –

Lebanese authorities say more than 3,452 people have been killed since October last year, with most casualties recorded since September.

Israel announced the death of a soldier in southern Lebanon, bringing to 48 the number killed fighting Hezbollah.

A UN-backed assessment on November 9 warned famine was imminent in northern Gaza, amid the increased hostilities and a near-halt in food aid.

Israel has pushed back against a Human Rights Watch report this week alleging that its mass displacement of Gazans amounts to a “crime against humanity”, as well as findings from a UN Special Committee pointing to warfare practices “consistent with the characteristics of genocide”.

A foreign ministry spokesman dismissed the HRW report as “completely false”, while the United States — Israel’s main military supplier — said accusations of genocide “are certainly unfounded”.

In Israel, police said they arrested three suspects after flares shot near the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the central city of Caesarea, south of Haifa, while he was away.

Demonstrators in Tel Aviv on Saturday reiterated demands that the government reach a deal to free dozens of hostages still held in Gaza.

The protest came a week after mediator Qatar suspended its role until Hamas and Israel show “seriousness” in truce and hostage-release talks.