EFCC arrests 24yr old currency courier trying to export N1b cash out of Nigeria

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) two days ago arrested one Abubakar Tijani Sheriff, whom it described as a bulk currency smuggler, as he attempted to smuggle $7million out of the country. The EFCC said in a statement yesterday that Sheriff, 24, was arrested at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos en route Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as he boarded his flight.


Following his arrest, he declared that he had a total sum of $4.5million on him but thorough screening and search showed that he was actually carrying $7,049,444, the commission said.  Sheriff then confessed that he was a courier for 20 individuals who hired him to courier the money for them to Dubai.

"Investigations by the EFCC showed that Sheriff is a regular traveller and one of several couriers of illegal cash suspected to be proceeds of crime,” the commission adding that his claims concerning his accomplices are being investigated.

Travellers leaving the country are statutorily required to declare cash in excess of $10,000. However, under the provisions of the Money Laundering Act, it is not sufficient to declare excess cash; the onus is on the person making the declaration to explain the source of the excess cash and the reason for the export.

Source: Sahara Reports

Rick Ross & Young Jeezy Brawl at BET Awards

According to TMZ, a fight broke out backstage between rappers Rick Ross and Young Jeezy at the 2012 BET Hip Hop Awards which was taped last night at the Atlantic Civic Center to be aired next month.

According to TMZ sources, Ross and Jeezy exchanged words backstage and started pushing and shoving each other. BET security and bodyguards for each of the rappers eventually separated them.

A member of Rick Ross' entourage allegedly pulled out a gun but no shots were fired according to police who were called to the scene. There were no arrests or reports of serious injuries

Mr May D shows off new car

The singer, who recently started his own record label, Confam Entertainment, just got himself a 2011 Nissan Maxima with personalized number - May D

My Hubby Wasn't Sacked From Air Nigeria, We Are Living Fine -- Omotola Replies Critics

Last week, the media was awashed with the news that Nollywood star actress, Omotola Ekeinde Jalade's hubby, Capt. Mathew Ekeinde was sacked from Jimoh Ibrahim's Air Nigeria, where Mathew was a pilot until recently.

The reports claimed that Omotola's husband was among worker of the airline suspended by Jimoh Ibrahim over an alleged disloyalty to the company. 

Disturbed by the news, Omosexy, as Omotola is fondly called by her teeming fans, took to twitter to debunk the news story. 

The sexy mother of four asked her critics, "can the 'intelligent' people spreading this rumours kindly publish this sack letter please? Smh! Come-hard-or-go-home.

"To my fans who've been worried and sending countless messages,THANKS. You're the reason I even respond. Nothing to worry about. I and my family are fine."

Omotola is no doubt one of the best actresses in the motion pictures in Nigeria. Her husband is also a brilliant pilot, according to those who know him too well. Both have been married for over 15 years.

Lagos: 248 escape death in Qatar Airways plane emergency landing

There was palpable fear at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos Saturday afternoon, as a Qatar Airways plane coming from Doha, the capital of Qatar, made an emergency landing due to a flat tyre.

The pilot of the Airbus A330-200 plane had sent a distress call to air traffic controllers on duty at the airport, telling them that one of his tyres had low pressure.

The aircraft carrying 248 passengers touched down on runway 18R of the airport at about 1:15pm with a burst tyre.

Scores of fire fighters from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Lagos State Fire Service and the Federal Fire Service had been mobilised to the airport.

Rescue workers from the National Emergency Management Agency, Julius Berger among others had also been waiting for the distressed aircraft.

A few minutes after the aircraft made the landed, it was towed to the parking bay of the international wing of the airport.

The panic-stricken passengers were however, unwilling to speak to journalists.

The Information Officer, NEMA, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, who led the emergency process on behalf of the agency, told reporters that the agency had received a distress call from airport authorities as early as 10am.

Farinloye added that the aircraft was said to have had a tyre burst on the rear side of the aircraft, a situation that required emergency landing.

He said the agency consequently mobilised and coordinated an emergency landing which included several agencies such as the Federal Road Safety Corps and the Civil Defence Corps.

He noted that the aircraft landed safely.

The Director-General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Dr. Harold Demuren, said the pilot took precautionary steps to land the aircraft the way he did.

He confirmed that the aircraft had low pressure in one of the tyres.

An official of Qatar Airways in Lagos said the airline had no official reaction to the development since the aircraft landed safely.

Punch Nigeria

Timaya denies reconciling with Empress Njamah

Afro-pop singer, Timaya, has denied the rumour making the rounds that he has made up with his former lover and Nigerian actress, Empress Njamah.

It all began when the former lovers who went through a very public fight which led to separation in 2009, hooked up at 2face Idibia‘s 37th birthday party held recently at Club Rumours, G.R.A, Ikeja, Lagos.

Although both parties carefully avoided contact with cameras at the event, Timaya was later sighted whispering into Njamah’s ears and they both laughed.

When contacted, Timaya said, “It is true that Empress and I met at Tuface’s party and greeted each other as old friends, nothing more. This whole speculation about reconciliation is spurious and baseless. I am happy with my partner, daughter and career and I am sure she is with her new life too.”

In May 2012, the singer – real names Enetimi Odom – who welcomed his first child from his love, Babara, said that as much as he loves and cherishes baby and mother, he is not thinking of getting married to her or any other woman yet.

Punch Nigeria

Drink or Smoke: I'm Always High - Uche Ogbodo

Beautiful but single actress, Uche Ogbodo recently revealed that she doesn't smoke nor drink any hard drink, the reason is because, she is always high and doesn't need stimulant to make her high.

"I do not smoke and drink. I am just like that. Did I give you a wrong impression? You should judge from what you are seeing? People should not imply that I smoke or drink. I do not smoke or drink. I am high already, so I do not need any other thing to get me high. Spiritually, I am high, physically, I am over the roof," she said.

Uche who was accused and disgraced at a hotel behind TFC for sleeping with friend's husband the last time also commented about her performance in Nollywood.

"I can never go down, I only ascend. I am still hot, forever hot in the industry and will always be hot. I do not even have time to myself because of so many jobs coming my way. Nollywood is moving forward, it can never go backward. So many things have changed. We have changed so many ways of doing things. Our productions have become better. We now have better pictures and equipments, here and there. I can only say we are going further and further into other markets because we now have good quality productions. And our relationship with other movie producing countries has improved in confidence too. We are going stronger and can never go backward," she said.

‘Iyanya Is A Very Special Person To Me’ - Yvonne Nelson

She cut her teeth recently as a movie producer but Yvonne Nelson does not think that the Ghanaian movie industry has been too fair to her. 

With seven years as an actress on the tow, Nelson takes OVWE MEDEME through the dark days of controversy to being the highest paid actress in Ghana. She talks movies, career, fashion and relationships in this interview. 

IS Single and Married your first production? 

No, this is my second outing as a producer. The first one is not out yet. I produced that last year with Majid Michel. We haven’t premiered that yet. We decided to premiere Single and Married first. My first production is titled The Price. 

What stands Single and Married out from other movies? 

The cast was different and the locations were amazing. As for the storyline, we have seen a few things like that before but I decided to spice things up by bringing in new faces, musicians and TV presenters. I discovered a young actor, Kweku Elliot, who we featured in the flick. I just wanted to do something different. People are tired of seeing the same faces so i wanted to change that a little bit. The premiere in Ghana was amazing. 

What message are you trying to pass with the movie? 

Basically, people just have to know who they want to get married to before they tie the knot. We should know our partner very well before we enter into a relationship because we might get married and then realise that we don’t have anything in common. Marriage is a long term affair. There are a number of lessons to be learned. You don’t want to have any surprises in your marriage. 

For a movie that is multi-themed, which of the themes relates directly to you? 

I am not single and I am not married so I don’t fall anywhere. I am in a relationship. I have not had any experience that relates directly to the movie. I didn’t write the script and it was Pascal Amanfo who directed it. 

What endeared you to the script? 

I did not give the scriptwriter the story. He did everything himself and I paid for it. We talked about a fun story and we discussed about something everyone can relate to. There are single people everywhere and there are married people everywhere. People are having issues with their marriages. When I read the script, I loved it and I decided to go ahead with it. Nothing drew me to it. I have worked with Pascal so many times and I know what he is capable of doing. I knew he was going to give me a good script. 

Currently you are rated as the highest paid actress in Ghana. Do you agree with that rating? 

Why won’t I agree with that? I have paid my dues; I have been working really hard. I would say that I have been the busiest actress this year. That is what God has done. 

At some point in your career was filled with controversy. What led to your ban from the Ghanaian movie industry? 

What my people or Africa do not like is when a woman is not happy with something and she voices it out. I have produced movies and I know how to treat people on set. The problem whoever had with me has to do with the fact that they don’t treat us well on set and when I voiced out, they start saying that I am rude or arrogant. They don’t want to feel we know our rights. I shot Single and Married with Chris Attoh and Nadia Buari and everything went fine. In nine days we were done. If you are working with your human resources and you treat them very well, nobody will have a problem.

Ghanaian movies are known to be on the explicit side. How well would you say you fit into the industry? 

I am in the Ghanaian movie industry; I am a part of it. If I get script and it is good, I will take it. I don’t think I have done a movie where anyone can say they found Yvonne nelson naked. We do scenes and we do them well. 

For the right price, would you act nude? 

I certainly would not. I would have done it long ago if I would. 

How true is it that you are romantically linked to Nigeria’s Inyana? 

I am like Iyanya’s biggest fan. I love his music. I have his music on my iPod, iPad, Blackberry and iPhone. We are just good. He is a very special person to me. 

How would you define special? 

He is just a special guy. 

So he’s not the one you are dating? 

I will not say anything on that because I don’t say much about who I am dating or who I am not dating. I have even said a lot right now. I am in a relationship. I am happy and that is all I can say. 

How soon do you hope to tie the knot? 

for now I am happy and I am committed so let’s see how it goes. 

How much interference does your relationship have on your career? 

None at all. Whoever I am in a relationship with should know that I am an actress before we started dating. 

So you were an actress before you started dating him? 

Of course. I would have married this guy long ago if the relationship was that old because it has been seven years. 

How has the seven years been like? 

It has been wonderful. I have learnt so much. It has been a learning process for me. I am like one of the youngest actresses in Ghana and I thank God for how far he has brought me.

These days, actors and actresses are venturing into music and vice versa. Are you considering anything like that? 

For now, I am not. I am ok with just being an actress.

"I Had Séx With Our House Helper, I Cry When Urinating!" - 13yr-Old-boy

I am a 13-year-old student form [Unrevealed] School and I have been having séx with our house helper and I think I have a séxually transmitted disease.

In the beginning of this year I had séx for the first time with her and I enjoyed it a lot. I have become hooked to séx with her and I often run away from school just to enjoy séx with her before my parents show up.

Recently I realized I cannot urinate without going through pain, I at times end up crying in the toilet and have even noted a pimple that has some puss on my privaté parts.

I am in so much pain and do not know what to do since I cannot tell my parents, they will definitely kill me.

Please help me, because I can't bear this pain anymore. Which drugs can I take?

REVEALED!!! Nigerian Women Are The Biggest Spenders In UK

Despite the fact that an average Nigerian live on less than $2 per day, however, London evening standard, a popular UK tabloid recently revealed that wealthy Nigerians spend over £5000 (N1.3M) on sweets, chocolates, shoes, bag and other stupid irrelevant luxury items on each visit to London.

It doesn’t end there, some of these addicted, dump, stupid and greedy shoppers like the lady that was interview, Simi Osomo visit the UK more than 6 times in a year to blow over N15M on shopping, making visitors from Nigeria are the UK’s fourth biggest foreign spenders and four times what UK shoppers typically spend.

QUOTE: 

Every year, Simi Osomo makes six trips to London from Nigeria. The 25-year-old spends about two weeks here and every day she goes shopping. Today she’s at the boutique shop Matches Townhouse in Marylebone with a personal shopper. 

“When it comes to shopping and Nigerians, I can tell you it’s just what we have to do,” she tells me while admiring the patterned dresses. 

For Nigerians, London is a shopping mecca. Visitors from the West African country are the UK’s fourth biggest foreign spenders, parting with an average of £500 in each luxury shop they visit — four times what UK shoppers typically spend. 

When I ask Osomo how much a two-week shopping trip in London costs she makes a bashful face. “Ooh, should I really be saying this? It depends, but most times about £5,000.” 

Osomo is wearing a green top from Zara that’s “the colour of the Nigerian flag”, blue skinny jeans and new Christian Louboutin shoes. Later today she’s going to buy an iPhone 5 for her sister. 

“You can get lots of things in Lagos but they are cheaper here and you get to take a holiday and relax a bit. It’s only six hours away.” The number of Nigerian visitors to the UK increased by more than 50 per cent to 142,000 a year between 1991 and 2011, according to the Office for National Statistics. 

Nigeria is projected to become Africa’s biggest economy by next year and the world’s fifth most populous country by 2050, and London is cashing in. 

Debenhams’ Oxford Street branch has put up signs in Hausa, one of the official Nigerian languages, and said customers from this part of West Africa are its biggest overseas spenders. 

Yet Osomo says it’s not just rich Nigerians who come over. “Middle-class people can afford to come and spend £600 on shopping in a week here. What I like about the UK is that it doesn’t discriminate. 

As long as you’re able to prove you have an income, accommodation in London and a return ticket, the authorities are more than willing to give you a visa. It’s closer than America and the customer service here is phenomenal.” 
 
Back home in Lagos, the technology market has been flooded with fake products from China, which means more people are coming to London for electronic goods and are even taking items back to sell. 

“No one wants to spend more than 100,000 naira (£390) and find out it is fake, so they prefer to come over for a holiday and buy something they know is real and has a guarantee in case something goes wrong.” 

Marks & Spencer is one of Osomo’s favourite shops. “I love their fajitas. You can’t get them in Nigeria. I also buy soy sauce and Thai green curry paste, which is good because it lasts for a long time. 

Oh, and Crunchy Nut cereal, Skittles, Maltesers and tea. There’s nothing like a British cuppa. I get Lipton, PG and green tea.” She likes the variety of London. “I love Zara, H&M, Topshop. But if I want something more high end, there’s Sloane Street.” 

More than £3 billion a year is spent on high-end goods in London, according to the London Luxury Quarter Report, and it predicts this will rise to £4.5 billion by 2020, with new shops including Burberry’s flagship fuelling the trend. 

Luxury concierge services are also popular. Osomo is a client of Quintessentially, which organises shopping trips and parties for her and has an office in Lagos. 

Although summer is the height of the shopping season, Osomo likes to come back for the January sales too. Her mother, a lawyer, and father, a businessman, often join her. 

She has just finished a law degree and is about to start a job in fashion journalism, which she hopes will give her enough holidays for trips to London. But flights can get booked up quickly. 

“You don’t want to get the Lagos to London flight in July. It’s packed with parents and their kids making noise.” Return flights at high season start at about £369. 

But what about getting her haul of shopping back from London to Lagos? That, says Osomo, is costly. “All I pack when I come over is one pair of jeans and three tops. 

I bring two big suitcases but I always have to get another one and pay for excess baggage. I never learn.” British Airways has increased its excess baggage charge on flights from London to Lagos from £40 to £97 per suitcase in the past year. “They must have realised we always put an extra bag in and thought they’d try to make money out of it,” says Osomo. 

Fashion-wise, she still picks up the odd item in Nigeria. Six months ago Zara opened an outlet store in Lagos, and Mango has been there for about a year. “Zara is affordable because it’s an outlet but what I find is that things are a bit last season. 

Nigeria’s hot all the time so there are always maxi dresses and swimwear but the colours are boring and we lack variety. Customer service is not great and some shops can get really crowded, which is challenging.” 

There is a burgeoning online shopping industry in Nigeria too. Currently, ASOS is the only shop that ships to Lagos free of charge and everyone Osomo’s age uses it. 

“Nigeria is a fun place, I’d encourage people to go. Shopping is evolving. In five years I think a lot of stores will come to Nigeria because there is a gap in the market. 

Ten years ago I never thought Zara would come to Nigeria. I believe in the next five years we will catch up. But I still love London and won’t stop coming here.

"Nigerian Men Are Bombarding Me With Marriage Offers" -Hong Kong billionaire’s daughter

Gigi Chao, the daughter of a Hong Kong billionaire says she had been bombarded with marriage proposals – and even nude photographs – from as far as Nigeria after her father offered £40 million to the man who could woo her. 

Gigi Chao, daughter of property tycoon Cecil Chao, entered a civil partnership with her girlfriend of seven years in a ceremony in Paris five months ago. 

But Mr Chao, 76, has told the South China Morning Post that reports of his daughter's civil ceremony were "false". He announced the HK$500 million dowry earlier this week. 

It has sparked a deluge of offers. Speaking on Thursday Ms Chao, 33, said she had received about 200 proposals and that the number of people following her on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook had jumped by 1,500 since her father's announcement. 

"People are contacting me on Facebook, by email, on Twitter. It's ridiculous. I can't sort out the serious proposals from the half-hearted ones. I can't make head or tail of it," she told The Daily Telegraph. 

Ms Chao, an executive director of her father's company, Cheuk Nang, said that in addition to receiving enquiries from gentlemen who say they are looking for love and ask her out on a date, she has received some introductions that are less conventional.

Telegraph

Terrible father bounds his son for days

This little boy was found yesterday morning (29th Sept 2012) inside bush near a river in Okpuno Awka crying by the community security service during the sanitation exercise.

His legs were bound in chains and locked with a padlock. From investigation his father whose photo also appeared above known as Alhaji by his fellow Okada riders and hails from Igala community of kogi state is the one chained his two legs and left him in that bush for three days now without food or water.

It is this same man that told his neighbors that his son has been missing since three days now and both him and neighbors were searching for him together without them knowing that he knew where his son is.

But luck ran out on him today when the security men from the community discovered the boy crying in the bush. The little boy happens to be the only child from his former wife. Who is no longer living with him.

Photos: World’s Fattest Woman Found Innocent of Murder

A new documentary is set to reveal the astonishing true life story of a woman who testified falsely to murder but was found innocent on the grounds that her burgeoning obesity could never have allowed her to commit the crime. 

TLC’s Half-Ton Killer? tells of how, in March 2008, Texan Mayra Rosales, 31, told police officers that she had killed her two-year-old nephew, Eliseo Jr, by accidentally rolling on top of him while babysitting. 

Such was her 1,100lb frame, Mayra imagined her story to be believable, but after doctors revealed that the boy could only have died from a blow to the head, the reality that she was so big she couldn’t move her arm, became her attorney’s main argument for her defence. 

SHOCKING: 5 Out Of 10 Women In LAGOS streets Are Carrying Sex Toys In Their Handbags

Theoretically, in Lagos almost anything can take the role of a "séx toy." Other than two human 

bodies, anything else introduced into séx play qualifies as either prophylaxis (contraception and disease prevention) or recreation, i.e.a toy. 

  Nigeria has again attracted the international community eye. Latest research indicates that out of 10 women walking in the streets of Lagos atleast 5 of them are carrying séx toys in their handbags.

Somebody may wonder and think that Nigeria in question is not the country you are living on, then you are wrong. The séxuality ranking for Nigeria has risen in the recent times after internet usage rocked the God's chosen nation...women are buying séx toys just like kids in the US are buying candy.

Caught RED HANDED: Pictures: Nigerian Couple Arrested For Defrauding UK Government Of £3.8M

A Nigerian couple who tried to claim £3.8million in an ‘eye-watering’ benefits scam using 1,400 stolen identities have been jailed for a total of almost 10 years.

Adeola Thomas, 38, assisted by his partner, Abimbola Abiola, 34, managed to pocket £87,000 after submitting almost 2,500 handwritten applications for tax credits and benefits. The pair spent the money on designer clothing and electrical items including a 50-inch plasma television.


 But the fraud was discovered when benefits staff noticed the same address was being used for multiple claims, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

Thomas, an illegal immigrant, was jailed for seven years while Abiola, also a Nigerian national with leave to remain in the UK, received two-and-a-half years.

Passing sentence, Judge William Kennedy said: ‘This was no less than a criminal industry, with simple and eye watering criminality designed to maximise the loss to the public.‘ It was a difficult investigation carried out with skill and tenacity.

‘The largest single joint conspiracy [of its kind] for these departments and the actual loss was kept down because of the work of both departments.’

Judge Kennedy also indicated that both Thomas and Abiola should be deported at the end of their prison terms.

The pair, who carried out the scam between January 3, 2007 and October 7, 2011, tried to claim £827,000 from HMRC, securing £43,000.

They also claimed £3 million from the Department of Work and Pensions and received £44,000.

With Abiola’s help, Thomas used stolen personal details to complete 2,495 handwritten application forms, which were sent to the appropriate departments for processing.

It is believed that others unknown to investigators, also provided postal addresses and assisted with correspondence.

When the claims were successful, the pair withdrew cash from acquaintances' bank accounts or from bogus post office accounts that Thomas, who masterminded the scam, had set up.

As well as analysing tax credit records, computer systems, hand written application forms and bank account details and listening to hours of recorded phones calls to the Tax Credit Helpline, HMRC investigators viewed CCTV footage showing activity outside various North London Post Office ATMs and carried out surveillance on Thomas.

He was arrested outside a cash point at Upper Clacton Post Office in Hackney, east London last October 7 where he was found to be in possession of 17 Post Office accounts.

He also had two mobile phones and two fraudulently completed application forms addressed to Job Centre Plus. Abiola, a mother-of-one, was caught on the same day with £4,125 cash in her handbag, which she claimed was child benefit payment. Thomas, of Hackney, east London, admitted three counts of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering. Abiola, of the same address was found guilty of four counts of conspiracy to defraud, money laundering and possession of criminal property following a trial at the court in August.

Female Raped On Way To Prayers

An Arab man used a knife to rape a female dentist of another Arab nationality as she headed with him to perform prayers in the Grand Mosque in the western Saudi town of Makkah, a newspaper reported on Friday.

The woman accepted an offer from the man to give her a lift to the Grand Mosque after telling her he was also going for prayers.

“Instead of taking her to the mosque, the man took the dentist to a deserted and dark place, where he raped her at knife point,” Sabq newspaper said, adding that the rapist was later arrested by Saudi police.