TheNewsGuru

Tag: Suspect

  • I bought gun to avenge my brother’s death – 21-year-old suspect confesses

    I bought gun to avenge my brother’s death – 21-year-old suspect confesses

    A 21-year-old man identified as Chineye Nzeche has been arrested with firearm by operatives of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria.

    He was nabbed around Rukpokwu axis, in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State

    The young man, who hails from Aguleri in Anambra State said he bought the pistol to avenge the killing of his brother by gunmen he described as kidnappers.

    “I bought the gun because of the people that kidnapped and killed my brother.

    “I did not buy it to rob anybody. It is for revenge,” he reportedly said.

    Chineye has already been handed over to the Rivers State Police Command, through the Rumuokoro Police Divisional Headquarters.

  • We are devastated says family of suspect in London mosque attack

    The family of a man suspected of driving a rented van into Muslim worshippers after they left prayers at a north London mosque said they are devastated at the “madness” of the attack.

    The vehicle swerved into the group of worshippers, mainly of North and West African origin, after they left prayers in the early hours of Monday at the Muslim Welfare House and the nearby Finsbury Park Mosque in north London, one of the biggest in Britain, injuring 11.

    Police said it was clearly targeted at Muslims and Prime Minister Theresa May described it as a “sickening” terrorist attack.

    A 47-year-old man was restrained by locals at the scene and police later arrested him on suspicion of attempted murder and terrorism offences.

    He is still being questioned by detectives.

    The suspect was named by British media as Darren Osborne, 47, a father-of-four, who lived in the Welsh capital Cardiff.

    In a statement given to local media on behalf of his family, his nephew Ellis Osborne said: “We are massively shocked; it’s unbelievable, it still hasn’t really sunk in.

    “We are devastated for the families, our hearts go out to the people who have been injured. It’s madness. It is obviously sheer madness.”

    The incident at Finsbury Park was the fourth attack in Britain since March and the third to involve a vehicle deliberately driven at pedestrians.

    The previous attacks had been blamed on Islamist extremists.

    The latest attack comes at a tumultuous time for the government with Britain starting complex divorce talks with the European Union and May negotiating with a small Northern Irish party to stay in power after losing her parliamentary majority in a snap election that backfired.

    An imam from the Muslim Welfare House who stepped in to protect the driver from the angry crowd after the incident was hailed as a hero in British newspapers on Tuesday.

    “We found that a group of people quickly started to collect around him … and some tried to hit him either with kicks or punches,” Mohammed Mahmoud told reporters.

    “By God’s grace we managed to surround him and to protect him from any harm.”

    Security Minister Ben Wallace said the man was not known to the security services and police said they believed he was acting alone.

    They were carrying out searches of addresses in Cardiff where the vehicle hire company that the van was rented from was based.

  • Imam stops angry Muslims from assailing London van suspect

    An imam intervened to stop local residents from beating a man accused of driving into people on Monday outside a London mosque after Ramadan prayers.

    The suspect was yanked from the cab of his van by a furious crowd as he sought to reverse and escape after injuring 10 people in what police said was a deliberate attack on Muslims that was being treated as terrorism.

    The man was being held down, beaten and kicked when Muslim cleric Mohammed Mahmoud stepped in to plead with people just to restrain him until police arrived.

    “We found that a group of people quickly started to collect around him, around the assailant and some tried to hit him either with kicks or punches.

    “ By God’s grace we managed to surround him and to protect him from any harm,’’ Mahmoud said.

    “We managed to extinguish any flames of anger or mob rule that might have taken charge,’’ he told reporters, adding he was acting with “a group of mature brothers’’.

    The suspect had been shouting earlier “I’ve done my bit’’, said Toufik Kacimi, the chief executive of the nearby Muslim Welfare House community centre, who praised the imam’s courage.

    “The imam’s bravery and courage helped calm the immediate situation after the incident and prevented further injuries and potential loss of life,’’ he said.

    If confirmed by authorities as terrorism, this would be the fourth such attack in Britain since March and the third to involve a vehicle driven at pedestrians.

    The suspect was described by police as a 48-year-old white man, who was taken into custody.

    “I’ve just seen sheer pandemonium people on the floor screaming, people bleeding, I’ve seen the guy being held on the floor,’’ Ibn Oman told Reuters at the scene.

    Mahmoud called on the incensed worshippers not to commit a sin during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

    “The imam came from the mosque and he said, ‘Listen we are fasting, this is Ramadan, we are not supposed to do these kinds of things so please step back,’’’ said Mohammed, a 29-year-old cafe owner who was one of three men who held the suspect down.

    “For that reason this guy is still alive today,’’ he added.

    “He tried to run away but we brought him down, he would’ve died because so many people were punching him,’’ an eyewitness who gave his name as Abdul said.

    There were angrier scenes as police arrived and protected the accused man as he was put into a police vehicle.

    The van had hit people assisting an elderly man who had collapsed, and who later died.

    It was not clear if he died because of the attack

    The attack came over two weeks after three Islamist militants drove into pedestrians on London Bridge and stabbed people at nearby restaurants and bars, killing eight.

    Since then incidents of hate crime have risen, police said.

     

     

    Reuters/NAN

  • Rivers Rerun: Police arrest 50 suspected thugs in Etche

    Rivers Rerun: Police arrest 50 suspected thugs in Etche

    A group of boys numbering about 50, suspected to be political thugs have been arrested by security agents in Ulakwo Ward 13 for allegedly trying to disrupt the on- going legislative election in Etche.

    The boys were seen sitting on the ground on Saturday, surrounded by some military and policemen.

    They were alleged to have been arrested from different units of the Ward.

    Reacting to the incident, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in charge of Rivers, Mr Ikoiwak Aniedi urged the media to focus more on electoral violence in Nigeria.

    He said that while the Commission was saddled with the responsibility of conducting elections, the issue of electoral violence should equally be considered.

    Aniedi stressed the need for journalists to report exactly what they witnessed during elections.

    This, he noted would go a long in checking some of the violence perpetrated during elections.

    He, however, said that the police would brief the commission officially on the situation on ground.

    At Obite Ward 10, Unit 3, the attempt of some political thugs to snatch a bag of electoral materials from INEC officials was repelled by the police.

    The electoral official, who declined to disclose her name, informed NAN that the election was peaceful in the unit except for the incident.

    She said that when the result was about to be counted, “we saw some thugs rushing to us, we quickly packed all the materials in a bag’’.

    “But they struggled the bag with us and took it; fortunately, the police intervened and rescued the bag from them, gave it back to us and escorted us to INEC office in the area.’’

    The Police Spokesman in Rivers, DSP Nnamdi Omoni said that the police had not made any arrest yet, and so could not comment on what other security agents had done.

    The election is the conclusion of the 2015 general elections to fill up Etche state Constituency II and Etche/Omuma Federal Constituency seats.

    Elections into the legislative seats were postponed indefinitely following the violence that broke out during the general elections in the area in 2015.

     

    NAN