The British police on Tuesday said they have seized £180 million ($249.5 million) of an undisclosed cryptocurrency, as part of a money laundering investigation launched against organised crime groups that moved into cryptocurrencies in order to clean their money. The latest seizure happened in less than three weeks after the London police made a £114 million haul on June 24 as part of its money laundering investigation. By this, a cryptocurrency payload totalling £294 million ($408 million) has been reportedly seized so far under the money laundering investigation. “While cash still remains king in the criminal world, as digital platforms develop we’re increasingly seeing organised criminals using cryptocurrency to launder their dirty money,” Reuters quoted Graham McNulty, a metropolitan P...
A major rescue operation is ongoing for the kidnapped students and teachers of the Federal Government College, Birnin Yauri, Kebbi State. Over 100 people, the majority of them girls, and five teachers, were kidnapped last week after bandits stormed the school. Top security sources told newsmen that some of the students had been rescued by troops. The remaining abducted students, the source said, had been split into five groups by the bandits, who had now been surrounded by troops. The troops have however not stormed the locations so that the girls will not be caught in the crossfire or killed by the bandits. “They have been surrounded by troops but they are negotiating so that the girls would not be killed,” the source said. Meanwhile, about 15 people recently kidnapped by bandits in Tegin...
File Photo Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land, Chief Gani Adams, has said that the late Chief MKO Abiola represented hope, liberty and freedom during his lifetime. Adams stated this at the commemoration of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election by Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) on Saturday in Lagos. According to him, Nigeria’s democracy is still not in tune with the ideals, which Abiola, winner of the election, lived and died for. He said that the democratic ideals of the late business mogul enabled him to win the presidential election, even in the North where his main opponent, Alhaji Bashir Tofa, came from. Adams, who decried what he called disunity, rivalry and senseless killings, said that these challenges had had adverse effect on the nation’s democracy. He said: “This present d...
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa and some opposition politicians received China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine in the tourist resort of Victoria Falls on Wednesday as part of efforts to encourage citizens to get inoculated. Zimbabwe has registered vaccines from China, India and Russia for emergency use but none so far from Western manufacturers. In a country where suspicion and scepticism often trump facts, Mnangagwa’s vaccination at a public event, together with opposition leaders, was meant to assure citizens that the vaccines were safe. The southern African nation had planned to administer the Sinopharm vaccine to 53 000 health workers and selected security forces when it rolled out the first phase of its programme on 18 February, but only 44 135 people had been vaccinated by Tuesday...
Police in Cameroon have arrested nine people on suspicion of homosexuality, most of them at an HIV/AIDS care centre, an LGBT rights lawyer said on Thursday. A police officer in the western town of Bafoussam, where the nine were detained on Tuesday and remained in custody two days later, said “we arrested them to verify whether they were homosexuals”. “By the end of the day, we will see, based on the evidence, whether some may be released and others referred to the prosecutor’s office,” which will decide whether to charge them, told AFP on condition of anonymity. Seven of those arrested were picked up at the headquarters of the Colibri association, whose main mission is the care of people infected with HIV/AIDS, according to lawyer Alice Nkom of the Association for the Defence of Homosexual...