Crime
World’s police in technological arms race with Nigerian mafia
Nigeria is… major recruitment ground for Black Axe
BBC)
Police units around the world have joined forces in a series of covert operations targeting one of West Africa’s most feared criminal networks – Black Axe.
Operation Jackal III saw officers in body armour carry out raids in 21 countries between April and July 2024.
The mission, co-ordinated by global policing agency Interpol, led to the arrest of 300 people with links to Black Axe and other affiliated groups.
Interpol called the operation a “major blow” to the Nigerian crime network, but warned that its international reach and technological sophistication mean it remains a global threat.
In one notorious example, Canadian authorities said they had busted a money-laundering scheme linked to Black Axe worth more than $5bn (£3.8bn) in 2017.
“They are very organised and very structured,” Tomonobu Kaya, a senior official at Interpol’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre, told the BBC.
According to a 2022 report by Interpol, “Black Axe and similar groups are responsible for the majority of the world’s cyber-enabled financial fraud as well as many other serious crimes”.
Mr Kaya said innovations in money-transfer software and cryptocurrency have played into the hands of group, which are renowned for multi-million dollar online scams.
“These criminal syndicates are early adopters of new technologies… A lot of fintech developments make it really easy to illegally move money around the world,” he said.
Operation Jackal III was years in the making and led to the seizure of $3m of illegal assets and more than 700 bank accounts being frozen.
Many Black Axe members are university educated and are recruited during their schooling.
The organisation is a secretive criminal network with trafficking, prostitution and killing operations around the world.
Cyber-crime, targeting individuals and businesses, is the organisation’s largest source of revenue.
Multiple so-called “Jackal” police operations have taken place since 2022.
Dozens of Black Axe and other gang members have been arrested and their electronic devices seized during these transnational raids.
This work has enabled Interpol to create a vast intelligence database, which is now shared with officers throughout its 196 member countries.
“We need to have data and to collate our findings from these countries to help build a picture of their modus operandi,” said Mr Kaya.
Despite multiple international arrests, some experts feel not enough is being done to address the root of these crime syndicates in West Africa.
“The emphasis must actually be on prevention not on outright operations against these criminal groups,” said Dr Oluwole Ojewale, West Africa Regional Co-ordinator from the Institute for Security Studies.
Nigeria, which has witnessed widespread anti-corruption protests in recent weeks, is one of Africa’s largest economies, but has as many as 87 million people living below the poverty line, according to the World Bank. It is also the main recruitment ground for Black Axe.
Interpol said it was carrying out training exercises with key Nigerian stakeholders and police officials. But corruption, and allegations of collusion between Black Axe and local authorities, remain major obstacles.
“It is the politicians who are actually arming these boys,” said Dr Ojewale. “The general failure of governance in the country has made pressures for people to be initiated [into Black Axe].”
Despite its current global reach, Interpol’s Jackal Operations have their origins in Ireland.
Following a series of police raids by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) in 2020, a handful of Black Axe members were arrested, paving the way for the exposure of a far wider network.
“They were very under the radar, very low-key,” said Michael Cryan, detective superintendent at the GNECB, which led the operation.
“The amount of money being laundered through Ireland was astronomical,” he added.
The police subsequently identified 1,000 people with links to Black Axe in Ireland and have made hundreds of arrests for fraud and cyber-crime.
“Bank robberies are now done with laptops – they’re far more sophisticated,” said Det Supt Cryan.
He estimates €200m ($220m; £170m) have been stolen online in Ireland in the past five years, and that only accounts for the 20% of cyber-crimes that are believed to be reported.
“This is not typical or ordinary crime… People who make decisions need to know how serious this is,” he said.
Irish police operations in November 2023 revealed that cryptocurrency – which can be sent rapidly between digital wallets around the world – is becoming an integral element in Black Axe’s money-laundering operations.
More than €1m in crypto-assets were seized during one operation.
Interpol has deployed its own new technology in an attempt to tackle these innovations, launching the Global Rapid Intervention of Payments system (I-GRIP).
The mechanism, which enables the authorities in member countries to freeze bank accounts around the world with unprecedented speed, was used to halt a $40m scam targeting a Singaporean business last month.
Interpol’s Mr Kaya said technology like this would make it harder for criminals to move money across borders with impunity.
A major effort is under way to gather and share intelligence on Black Axe and other West African syndicates by police around the world.
“If we can gather this data we can take action,” he said.
Crime
Homosexuality: Police nab 37-year-old man with 3 minors with 500 naira inducement
A 37-year-old man, Isah Usman of Angwan Biri, who sells honey in the Bosso Local Government Area of Niger State, has been arrested by the police for forcefully having unnatural carnal knowledge of young boys aged 13, 14 and 15 severally in his room.

The incident, which occurred on 23rd April at about 3:30 p.m., was reported to the Bosso Division, where the suspect lured the minors with 500 naira each and some honey as an inducement to commit the act with them.
Confirming the development, spokesman of the police, Superintendent Wasi’u Abiodun, in a statement said the victims were taken to Police Clinic, Minna, for a medical examination, which confirmed the allegation and indicated penetration, while the suspect also confessed to the act.

The suspect, according to the police, has been transferred to SCID Minna for further investigation, after which he will be charged to court for prosecution.
Similarly, on the 28th April at about 5:45 p.m.m, Abiodun said a report was received at GRA Division that on the same date at about 4p.m, a 14-year-old boy was seen spending money lavishly and when questioned by his Boss, who is a mechanic.
The teenager, upon interrogation, revealed that another 16-year-old usually gives him between two thousand and two thousand five hundred naira after performing unnatural sexual acts with him in an uncompleted building around Tayi village.
The suspect was said to have been immediately arrested, and an investigation is ongoing to identify other victims and possible accomplices for investigation and prosecution for unnatural offences.
The police therefore advised Parents/Guardians to monitor and protect their wards against such unnatural offences to prevent the health implications for the victims.
Crime
NDLEA, US-DEA nab Nigerian billionaire drugs baron
Properties already identified and linked to Amadi Simon as proceeds of illicit drug funds include Jovi Hotel at 1 Isiayei Street GRA Phase 1, Asaba, Delta State; Jovi Hotel and Suites at 4 Orikeze by Deeper Life Road, Agbor, Delta State; as well as Jovi Apartment at Jamieson Court Mabushi, Abuja.
A Nigerian a billionaire drug baron, Amadi Simon, had been arrested in Switzerland along with his co-conspirators: 34-year-old Jecinta Amara Ikechi, in Anambra state, and 28-year-old Blessing Ngozi Amadi, in Agbor, Delta state.
In a statement on Thursday, the NDLEA said that the arrest of the trio followed months of intelligence and investigations across multiple jurisdictions linking Amadi to the laundering of hundreds of billions of Naira in proceeds of drug and financial crimes.
In addition to the arrest of the suspects, the NDLEA, in collaboration with its international law enforcement partners, has also traced multi-billion assets linked to Amadi’s transnational criminal network in Nigeria and abroad.
“His operations in Nigeria included a complex scheme of front and shell companies; pass-throughs and delegates; and the use of numerous traditional and cryptocurrency accounts to conceal and launder illicit funds.
Properties already identified and linked to Amadi Simon as proceeds of illicit drug funds include Jovi Hotel at 1 Isiayei Street GRA Phase 1, Asaba, Delta State; Jovi Hotel and Suites at 4 Orikeze by Deeper Life Road, Agbor, Delta State; as well as Jovi Apartment at Jamieson Court Mabushi, Abuja.
“Also, several bank accounts and cryptocurrency addresses used by the cartel to conceal hundreds of billions of illicit funds have also been identified and blocked.”
The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd),expressed gratitude for the support received from the US-DEA to crack and dismantle Amadi’s transnational criminal network, adding that the US mission to Nigeria has continued to partner with the agency to combat narcotics trafficking through training in intelligence, evidence collection, case management, and tactical operations as well as the provision of critical equipment.
Crime
Gateman flees after murder of a manager with Okeyson Transport
They went to Abdullahi Dairu, and he mentioned one of his friends, claiming he went out with him. But when the wife called that same friend, he said he hadn’t seen him that day,” the source stated.
Image credit : Instagram
A gateman identified as Abdullahi Dairu has been nowhere to be found following the murder of a 67-year-old man, Chief Augustine Nwalieze, a manager with Okeyson Transport.
Chief Nwalieze’s body was discovered with deep machete wounds in his home at Ajah area of Lagos State, a development that has thrown his family and friends into mourning.
It was learned that Nwalieze was attacked Saturday morning as he prepared to go out.
Nwalieze lived with his wife, daughter, two maids, and another woman, who were upstairs at the time of the incident.
A family source said the victim’s gateman identified as Abdullahi Dairu has been nowhere to be found since the incident.
According to the source, Dairu allegedly attacked Nwalieze for yet-to-be-ascertained reasons as the victim walked downstairs to the car park, close to the store where spare parts from his cars are kept and a solar panel was stored.
“Nobody could really tell what happened. They didn’t hear the sound of any car driving off or the gate opening.
His three cars were still parked, so, they became worried about his whereabouts.
They called his phone, but he didn’t pick up,” the source said.
The source added that Dairu could not give a straight answer when questioned about his boss’ whereabouts.
They went to Abdullahi Dairu, and he mentioned one of his friends, claiming he went out with him. But when the wife called that same friend, he said he hadn’t seen him that day,” the source stated.
The case against Dairu grew stronger after he went into hiding, the source further stated.“
By the time they returned to question him again, he had disappeared. That was when they began to search the compound thoroughly.
They found his lifeless body in one of the flats downstairs.
He had machete cuts on his head, hands, and body. It was a terrible sight,” the source disclosed.
The victim was immediately rushed to hospital but efforts to revive him failed.
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