Startech Safety And Security News Blog

A Nigerian couple brutally beat their sister-in-law to stupor over suspicion that she was having an extra-marital affair. The victim, Bela Omeneka, 29, began living with her husband's brother and his wife after she got married in 2016 to a man who lives in Amsterdam. Bela's husband, Felix Omeneka instructed her to move into his family’s house at 1, Maduafa street, off Chief Vincent Eze street, Ajao estate, shortly after they got married. Bella said staying in the family’s house became uncomfortable following series of quarrels between her and her in-laws. It came to a peak on Saturday as she was beaten between 11 pm and 4 am by her brother-in-law, Kelly Omeneka and his wife, Mercy. The couple beat her so much that she had angry red and purple marks all over her body. Bella narrated her plight to Vanguard, saying: "The first attack on me occurred in May 2017, by Kelly’s wife, shortly after I started staying with my in-laws. Bu...

💮 Troops of 707 Special Forces Brigade, Nigerian Army, on Monday 29th January 2018, raided the shrine and suspected hideout of a notorious native Doctor, Mr. Tordue Gber (Tiv Swem), who act as spiritual adviser to the wanted armed criminal militias at Tor-Dunga town, Katsina-Ala Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State. 💮 During the operation, the troops succeeded in arresting the occupant, Gber (Tiv Swem), who is an ally of the wanted notorious criminal, Akwazar Terwase (alias Gana). It will be recalled that he was declared wanted by the security agencies and has been at large since 2016. PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION SHOWS THAT, 💮 Mr. Tordue Gber (Tiv Swem) acts as spiritual counselor that provides Gana with “diabolical” powers and the shrine serves as hideout for wanted armed militia, meeting and planning point for operations and logistics base for the criminal armed militias that operate in Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba States. 💮 The native Doctor was arrested along with...

    South Sudanese rebels A South Sudanese rebel group said on Monday it had released 15 soldiers it had been holding to The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in line with a ceasefire agreed by the government and rebel groups. On Dec. 21, 2017, the government and rebel groups signed a ceasefire in the latest attempt to end a four-year civil war and allow humanitarian groups access to civilians caught in the fighting. The ceasefire aims to revive a 2015 peace deal that collapsed last year after heavy fighting broke out in South Sudan’s capital Juba. SPLA-IO spokesman Lam Gabriel told Reuters the rebel group had released the prisoners on Sunday and that it was collecting names of prisoners of war from battlefields across the Equatorial region, which borders Uganda. He said more prisoners will be released in the coming days. International monitors have said the truce negotiated by the East African regional bloc IGAD in December, which included a commitme...

                           According to eyewitnesses, the woman was discovered with the parts when residents were disposing refuse and burning dirt gathered during the day’s environmental sanitation exercise. One of the witnesses, who spoke to The Nation, under conditions of anonymity, said the woman attracted attention of some members of the community, who suspected her strange attitude while burning refuse close to her shack. “When some of the people who were burning refuse observed she was behaving strangely, they went on to look into her hut and to their surprise they saw a fresh corpse of a young girl and other human parts," the source said. “This made the people to raise the alarm and suspecting that she might have been in this sort of business for a very long time, people got angry and seized her,” She was set ablaze before security operatives could arrive to rescue her.

Some of the animals killed Seventy three cows were killed while 18 other cows were injured in an early morning attack on Yamadaga village, Kadarko community in Keana Local Government Area of Nasarawa State by suspected cattle rustlers. The cattle rustlers invaded Kadarko community around 4:00 am on Sunday, January 29 shooting into the air. They were reported to have kidnapped two persons, chasing other cows into the bush in the process. The victims of the attack who were mostly herdsmen claimed that the masterminds of the attack were Tiv farmers and that it was a reprisal attack. Ahmed Abdullahi one of the cow owners said the rustlers unleashed mayhem when the villagers were asleep. “I was sleeping and then I heard bullet sound everywhere, I didn’t see anybody but they killed my 73 cows, some of them were dispersed into the bush and I haven’t seen two of my children,” he said. A chief in the village, Ardo of Yamadaga, Husseini Adamu, said the attackers were numbering close t...

FILE PHOTO: A baby The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP) said it arrested a 38 year old herbalist, Chigozie John Emmanuel, A.K.A ‘Akuchi’, for allegedly selling neonate. This was announced in in a statement by the Head, Press and Public Relations of NAPTIP, Mr Josiah Emerole, in Abuja on Sunday. Emerole explained that the suspected trafficker sold the new born baby to a woman whom he promised to make pregnant through spirituality. He said that Emmanuel, who hailed from Enugu State, owned Akuchi Herbal Concept at New Nyanya, Abuja. He was arrested after weeks of surveillance by officers of the agency and those of the Department of State services. According to him, Emanuel has been previously arrested by the Nigeria Police, when a woman was caught with a baby in Abuja enroute Minna. The spokesperson said that the herbalist told his victim he had made her pregnant and cautioned her not to go to the hospital for any medical treatment or a...

                      Oluchi Igwedibia, alias Obatosu, the younger brother of the notorious criminal and cultist, Don Wanny has been gunned down by a combined team of the Army and Department of State Security, DSS, who trailed him to Sabo Iyakpe, Etsako West in Edo State on Sunday. According to a Government House, Port Harcourt press release, signed by Simeon Nwakaudu, the Special Assistant to the Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike commended the DSS and the Nigerian Army for the joint operation that led to the killing of Igwedibia. The younger brother of late Don Wanny who was among the 32 cultists declared wanted by the State Security Council was killed at Sabo Iyakpe, Etsako West in Edo State on Sunday, following accurate DSS intelligence. Igwedibia played a prominent role in the New Year killings by Don Wanny gang in Omoku. Wike declared that none of those declared wanted by the Rivers State Security Council would go fre...

                              Authorities in Ivory Coast have seized around 600 kg of elephant tusks and 600 kg of pangolin scales have been seized in Ivory Coast, ready to be sent to Vietnam and other Asian countries. Head of Ivory Coast's anti-smuggling unit, told reporters last Thursday that six suspects were arrested in the operation lasting several days, that aimed to dismantle a major trafficking network. "The ivory was ready for export to Vietnam. The ... pangolin scales were destined for Asia," - said Adomo. The unit said two of the suspects came from Ivory Coast and one from Guinea, and that the ivory had come from as far afield as Gabon, Nigeria, Mozambique and Uganda. The anti-trafficking group EAGLE, which worked with the authorities, said two of the suspects were from Vietnam and one from China. The tusks were valued at $450,000 and the pangolin scales $350,000 on the black market,...

Supporters set up a placard of Rodrigo Londono, known as Timochenko. PHOTO: AP                                 Former guerrilla leader Rodrigo Londono was once one of Colombia’s most-wanted men. Now he is a presidential contender. The graying, spectacled man best known by his alias Timochenko launched his bid Saturday to lead the government he once battled from the jungle with a celebratory campaign kickoff featuring giant posters, colourful confetti and a catchy jingle. “I promise to lead a government that propels the birth of a new Colombia,” he said. “A government that at last represents the interests of the poor.” Breaking with the traditional campaign launch from a five-star Bogota hotel, Timochenko initiated his presidential bid from one of the city’s poorest, most crime-ridden neighbourhoods in a clear nod to the underprivileged class whose votes the ex-combatants are hoping to win. Hundre...

A classmate allegedly overheard the suspect threatening to shoot four students Uniontown Area Senior High School in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in an image from Google street view, 2013. Just days after high school shootings in Texas and Kentucky, an alleged school shooting plot in Pennsylvania has been thwarted. Police found multiple guns and machetes in a 14-year-old high school student’s bedroom after receiving a tip from one of the suspect’s classmates. According to officials, the classmate allegedly overheard the suspect threatening to shoot four students at Uniontown Area Senior High School, located about 70 miles south of Pittsburgh in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. The student who overheard the conversation recorded it, said Fayette County District Attorney Richard Bower, according to CBS News. The person then told their parents, who contacted police.  When authorities went to the suspect's home, they found an arsenal of weapons in his bedroom including a semi...

Officers criticised after posing for photos with Rogerio Avelino da Silva, 35, as they celebrated arrest of one of country's most wanted men Rogerio Avelino da Silva, also known as Rogerio 157, who is accused by authorities to be the drug dealing chief of Rocinha slum, is escorted by policemen at a police station complex in Rio de Janeiro  Ricardo Moraes/Reuters Police in  Brazil  are facing an angry backlash after posing for selfies with a gang kingpin accused of extortion, drug-trafficking and multiple murders. Rogerio Avelino da Silva, also known as Rogerio 157, was arrested on Wednesday in what should have been a victory for detectives grappling with the bloody criminal violence that plagues the streets of  Rio de Janeiro . The 35-year-old is believed to have been partly responsible for a recent wave of deadly crime in Rocinha, Rio’s largest favela, which saw his men fight street gun battles against gangsters loyal to a rival crime lord. Howe...

Witnesses say shooters arrived in three heavily armed cars and burst into venue firing weapons, A “large number of people” have been shot dead in north-western  Brazil  after gunmen stormed into a party, police said. Local media reported that 14 people had been killed in the shootings at a nightclub in the city of Fortaleza.  At least six others, some of them children, were injured, according to the country's National Public Security Force. Police believe the shootings could be linked to a rivalry between drug gangs but many of those killed are thought to have been innocent party-goers with no connections to organised crime. Up to 15 gunmen arrived in three heavily armed cars at 1.30am on Saturday and fired their weapons as they entered Forró do Gago nightclub. People fled the club and sheltered in nearby houses as shots went on for half an hour, witnesses told  O Globo ,  Footage of the aftermath showed blood on th...

                                       One Samwel Ndung’u was arrested on Friday, in Kiambu, Kenya following the death of his wife, who was raped and doused with acid last Wednesday night after a family dispute. Lucy Njambi, 21, from Karembu in Gatundu South succumbed to the injuries Friday morning at the Kenyatta National Hospital. Ndung’u, is the immediate former MCA for Riruta Ward. He was remanded in police custody until Monday to allow police more time to conduct investigations. Police are probing claims that the couple has been having domestic quarrels before Njambi fled with her five-year-old son. Njambi has been living in a rented apartment at Thindigwa, along Kiambu Road. It was gathered that Njambi’s husband and three other people picked her from home and drove away with her in a saloon car. She was raped and doused with acid and later aband...

                                THE Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) has rescued two South-Africans who were kidnapped at a mining site in Kaduna State. IRT commander, ACP Abba Kyari, told the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) on Saturday that some members of the kidnap gang were also arrested. Kyari said that Messrs Thomas Arnold and Hendrick Gideon were kidnapped at a mining site in Maidaro Village on Jan. 23 and taken to Birnin Gwari forest in Kaduna State. He said the victims were rescued on Saturday morning following intense pressure jointly mounted on the kidnappers by the IRT, Police Air Wing helicopter patrol and Kaduna State Command Police. “The victims were moved from Kaduna to Abuja this morning and were handed over to the South African Embassy and their company representative for medicals and other immediate needs. “Victims are in good health and have given usef...