Musings From Abroad

Nigerian man awaiting sentencing in trafficking, fraud case, found dead in London jail

Published

3 years ago

March 30, 2022

The late Israel Olugosi and wife, Holly

A 38-year-old Nigerian, Israel Olugosi, who was serving time in a London jail awaiting sentencing, was on Monday, found dead inside his cell.

The deceased was convicted in May last year for trafficking dozens of vulnerable teenage girls around the UK in a large-scale shop fraud scam.

A Prison Service spokesperson who announced the death of Olugosi, said he was found by prison staff when they opened his cell on D-wing at 8.45am, and was pronounced dead at 9am.

At his arraignment at the Snaresbrook Crown Court in north-east London, Olugosi had admitted to charges of “conspiring to arrange or facilitate the travel of children for exploitation.”

The police say Olugosi was the ringleader of an organized crime syndicate alongside his British wife, Holly, that defrauded over 100 stores and exploited over 30 teenage victims before their operation was discovered and shut down.

“Isaiah Olugosi recruited, coached and transported girls aged between 14vand 17 around the country to commit refund fraud in high street stores.

“The gang had team leaders who would trick or coerce the vulnerable girls into joining their criminal gang; Olugosi and his team would drive them across the UK, using pre-planned routes to target branches of each store.

“They printed out and put fake barcodes on items to pay a cheaper price before later returning for a full price refund, meaning a phone bought for £20 could get a £120 refund.

“The money made from the scam was used to fund Olugosi and Holly’s expensive lifestyle, with huge sums spent on cosmetic surgery, tanning sessions, a new Mercedes, luxury holidays and even a fridge they bought for £2,500.

“On a typical day for Olugosi’s gang, they would defraud over 10 stores, making thousands of pounds per route for the gang,” the Metropolitan Police said.

Related Topics:Death fraud Human Trafficking Nigerian

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Musings From Abroad

Finnish court imprisons Nigeria’s Simon Ekpa for aiding terrorism

Published

5 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian separatist leader based abroad, has been placed under detention by the Päijät Häme District Court in Finland on suspicion of inciting others to commit acts of terrorism.

According to the local daily, Helsingin Sanomat, the court rendered the ruling on Thursday following his arraignment by the Central Criminal Police for his involvement in the terror attacks that have afflicted the southeast area of Nigeria.

“The police suspect that the man has promoted his efforts from Finland with means that have led to violence against civilians in the region of South-Eastern Nigeria,” stated Otto Hiltunen, the crime commissioner and investigation head.

“The man has carried out his activity, among other things, on his social media channels.”

Hiltunen also informed the court that the police suspected four additional individuals in Finland of funding Ekpa’s activities.

According to the story, Ekpa is of Nigerian descent and was born in the Finnish city of Lahti.

His offence occurred between August 23, 2021, and November 18, 2024, according to court documents cited in the publication.

Ekpa is not the only person the police have arrested. In February 2023, they caught him at a private Lahtian flat, but he was freed the same day.

Through the Eastern Security Network (ESN) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, Ekpa has continued to be outspoken on social media, raising money and agitating for a Biafran nation to secede. In the southeast part of Nigeria, both factions have been involved in acts of violence, murders, and maimings.

Since gaining formal independence in 1960, Nigeria has seen the emergence of several separatist organisations. The latest surge of calls for self-determination among different ethnic groups has been louder under its immediate previous President Muhammadu Buhari.

Musings From Abroad

Malian singer Rokia Traore arrested in Italy, to be sent to Belgium

Published

1 day ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

After Italy’s top court denied her appeal, well-known Malian singer, Rokia Traore, who was detained in Rome in June due to a global child custody dispute, will be sent over to Belgium in the next few days, her attorney announced on Wednesday.

The 50-year-old Traore is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR and one of Africa’s most well-known vocalists.

“Rokia suffered an injustice. She was arrested without the Belgian criminal court hearing her voice. Now, the battle for Rokia’s rights moves to Brussels,” lawyer Maddalena Del Re said in a statement to Reuters.

The attorney also stated that in its decision late Tuesday, Italy’s Court of Cassation upheld an extradition decision from the European Court of Justice.

Under a European arrest order, Traore was taken into custody on June 20 at the Fiumicino airport in Rome. In October 2023, she was given a two-year prison sentence in Belgium related to a dispute over her daughter’s custody.

She had flown to perform outside Rome’s Colosseum, and she has been imprisoned in Civitavecchia, close to the Italian city, since her detention at Fiumicino.

Lawyer Del Re said that because a conviction was rendered without the defendant’s presence, the Belgian process goes against both international norms and Italian constitutional standards.

After she disregarded a court order to turn over her baby to her Belgian father, the singer’s divorced ex-partner, she was initially taken into custody in France in 2020 on a Belgian arrest warrant.

She disobeyed orders not to leave France until her extradition case was handled by taking a private jet to Mali months after being conditionally released. Mali is where her daughter resides.