Nineteen suspects, including eight men from Colombia and Venezuela, have appeared before a Freetown High Court on charges of smuggling illegal drugs into the country.

The Mozambican police has been "gangsterised", according to Domingos Maita, who was head of the Criminal Investigation Police (PIC) in Maputo in the 1990s.

Former Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River escaped arrest by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Tuesday by the whiskers, courtesy of the timely intervention of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Chief Farida Waziri, has set up a committee to look into money laundering cases involving former governors.

About two years after he presided over the affairs of the Oyo state government, for eleven months, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which has been investigating charges of corruption, stealing and abuse of office leveled against Gov Christopher Alao-Akala has released an interim report which has found the sitting governor wanting for allegedly stealing the sum of N1 billion of ...

Northwest Governor, Mahamat Abakar, has told 34 Mayors of the Northwest that the axe will fall on those of them who have engaged in swindling council funds.

Police in Bertoua have dismantled two gangs of armed robbers in separate operations carried out recently.

The Abia State PDP has described as diversio- nary, the attempt by the Abia State Governor, Chief Theo-dore Orji to blame the attack on his convoy last Tuesday by gun-men.

Mozambican prosecutors intend to question convicted assassin Momade Assife Abdul Satar ("Nini"), in connection with the murder in August 2001 year of Antonio Siba-Siba Macuacua, the interim chairperson of the crisis-ridden Austral Bank, according to a report in Friday's issue of the newsheet "Diario de Noticias".

The US-based hardware company Hewlett Packard (HP) is signing agreements with Mozambican partners in the fight against counterfeit computer products.

Executive Mansion Provides

The good working relationship between the police and security companies at the coast continue to produce the desired results in the maintenance of law and order. This manifested itself earlier this week when members of a security company and the police foiled an attempted robbery.

A human rights activist based in Tema, is appealing to the Chief Justice, Mrs. Georgina Wood, to intervene and save a set of twins from the harsh conditions of police cells.

In a book entitled Prohibition: The Era of Excess, Sinclair Andrews writing about the efforts of the US Government to prohibit alcohol use in the l920s, offers a very good lesson for what is currently happening at the Narcotics Control Board.

One of the key figures in the Avid Investment Corporation fraud case, Nico Josea, is in such a financial pinch that he can no longer afford to pay his own lawyers and has applied to be given publicly-funded legal aid for his coming criminal trial in the High Court.

About 50 Windhoek residents, mainly women, yesterday protested outside the Windhoek Magistrate's Court over an upcoming application for bail by murder suspect and former City of Windhoek Chief of Property Lazarus Shaduka.

A Walvis Bay fisherman who shot another man five times in an argument over a hat was sentenced to a 14-year prison term after being convicted on a charge of murder in the Swakopmund Regional Court this week.

Magistrate Deen Tarawallie Thursday refused to grant bail to all accused persons charged in the cocaine matter at the Freetown magistrate court.

A 42- year-old fake naira and dollars producer, Mu'azu Yakubu, has been arrested by the Zamfara State command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) while producing United States dollars.

A 34-YEAR-OLD man from Swereki Village in Beitbridge West was yesterday jailed for two years for poaching a giraffe and two impalas on the farm of Home Affairs Minister Cde Kembo Mohadi.

TWO Zupco employees were yesterday arrested for allegedly stealing an assortment of spares and fittings valued at over $60 trillion from the company's workshop in Chinhoyi.

A 32-year-old Makonde-based policeman was arrested last week for allegedly raping his 14-year-old niece over a period of six months.

A 26-year-old female suspected drug courier has been arrested by men of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for alleged unlawful possession and attempt to export 1.050 kilogrammes of substances that tested positive for cocaine at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja.

Mohamed Kamara of No. 14 Campbell Street in Freetown was yesterday refused bail by magistrate Bankole Shyllon of court No. 3 for allegedly stealing a motorbike worth Le 3,500,000.

The Police in Kampala on Monday arrested a man of Yemeni origin over impersonation and fraud.