Tag: jail break

Trump’s Ex-Aide Manafort Risks 24 Years In Jail After Breaking Plea Deal

Paul Manafort/ AFP

 

President Donald Trump’s former campaign chief Paul Manafort faces up to 24 years in prison after being found to have violated his plea deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, a court document filed Friday said.

Mueller’s office said it agreed with a Justice Department calculation that Manafort should face “235 to 293 months, a fine range of $50,000 to $24,371,497.74, a term of supervised release of up to five years, restitution in the amount of $24,815,108.74, and forfeiture in the amount of $4,412,500,” the filing said.

Earlier this month, federal district judge Amy Berman Jackson agreed with prosecutors that Manafort had “intentionally” lied to investigators about his contacts with a suspected Russian operative, Konstantin Kilimnik, in 2016 and 2017 — despite having pledged to cooperate as part of his September plea agreement.

Jackson also ruled that Manafort had lied about a secretive payment he made to a law firm and lied on another occasion when investigators queried him about a separate, still secret investigation related to the Mueller probe.

READ ALSO: Five Killed In US Mass Shooting

The ruling meant that Mueller no longer has to abide by the deal, in which Manafort agreed to plead guilty to two reduced conspiracy charges, carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Manafort is one of seven former Trump campaign associates who have been charged by Mueller’s team.

He was convicted in August in a Virginia court on eight charges of banking and tax fraud related to his work for Russia-backed political parties in Ukraine between 2004 and 2014.

He was separately charged in Washington with money laundering, witness tampering and other offences, which were consolidated into the two conspiracy charges in the plea bargain.

AFP

Notorious Thief Flees French Jail By Helicopter – Prison Authority

Vice Principal Gets Life Imprisonment For Raping 12-Year-Old In Ekiti
File Photo

 

A notorious career thief who was once France’s most-wanted man pulled off a daring jailbreak on Sunday, fleeing a facility in the Paris area by helicopter, prison officials said.

Redoine Faid, 46, broke out of the prison in Reau in the city’s southeastern suburbs within minutes, sources close to the case said, indicating he had been helped by a number of heavily-armed men.

It was the second time Faid has pulled off a spectacular jailbreak — in 2013, he blasted his way out of a prison in northern France using dynamite before being recaptured six weeks later.

‘Police Has No Right To Declare Anyone Wanted’

A Former Vice Chairman of the FCT Chapter of the Nigerian Bar Association, Victor Abasiakan-Ekim, says the police has no right to declare any citizen wanted.

He said this when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Wednesday following the decision of the Police to declare the senator representing Kogi West, Senator Dino Melaye and seven others, wanted.

Ekim said what the police ought to have done was to send a letter to the Senate President, requesting that he produces Senator Melaye or go to court.

“I would say that amounts to trivializing the issue. Dino Melaye is a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and I think they have these appellation ‘distinguished’ attached to their names.

“He draws salary from the taxpayers’ funds, so he can be reached through the Senate President. The proper approach is to send a letter to the Senate President, requesting that he produce Dino Melaye to the police authority for questioning.
“A second way to go about it is to present a court with the allegation against Dino Melaye and the evidence the police has gathered against him.

“But the police cannot arrogate unto itself the power to prosecute and pass a sentence by way of declaring a citizen wanted.

“That has been struck down by a court of law in the Federal Capital Territory where honourable Justice Musa declared the powers of the EFCC to declare a citizen wanted, illegal.

“The Police on its own does not have a right to declare a citizen wanted, it means you are the complainant, the investigator and the one declaring him wanted so you’re overriding judicial powers,” he stated.

 

The Police had said earlier that it will declare the Senator wanted if he failed to show up at its Kogi command on Wednesday, March 28 over allegations of unlawful possession of prohibited firearms among other things.

Also, he was being asked to appear before the police over an alleged connection to two suspects who were said to have been part of an armed gang terrorising residents of the state.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood had revealed that the suspects were arrested with a cache of arms which they claimed had been supplied to them by Senator Melaye.

But earlier today (Wednesday) the suspects were said to have escaped from police custody in the state capital, Lokoja.

The development was announced by the by the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Ali Janga.

In a statement signed by him, he said: “Four of the suspects were on court remand, including two that indicted Senator Dino Melaye and Mohammed Audi.

“Consequently, all the six suspects, Senator Dino Melaye and Mohammed Audu were sent for watchlisting and red notice by the INTERPOL for immediate arrest anywhere we see them”.

The police commissioner noted that Investigation into the jailbreak is ongoing while the 13 police officers who were on duty when the incident occurred have been detained for interrogation.

Meanwhile, Senator Melaye has threatened to sue the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris if he fails to produce the two suspects in the next 48 hours.

Read More: Melaye Gives IGP 48hrs To Produce Escaped Suspects

Four Killed, 36 Escape In Akwa Ibom Jail Break

Four inmates were on Wednesday killed while 36 others escaped in a  jailbreak at Ikot Ekpene Prison, in Akwa Ibom state.

The spokesperson for the prison, Ogbajie Ogbajie in a statement on Thursday said that the prisoners attacked prison kitchen’s staff and proceeded to escape through the rear entrance of the prison.

READ ALSO: Police Arrest Sellers Of New Naira Notes

“At about 11:47hrs on Wednesday, 27 December 2017, there was an attack on kitchen staff that were on duty at Ikot Ekpene Prison in Akwa-Ibom State by some prisoners.

“They seized an axe from fellow inmate attached to the kitchen, inflicting a deep cut to inmate’s head in the process and immediately made for the rear entrance to the prison. They broke the door with the axe and engaged the staff that chased after them in battle,” he said.

Ogbajie said further that seven of the fleeing inmates were recaptured while four others who were hit by gunshots died.

“At the end of the scuffle, four of them that sustained gunshots lost their lives while seven were recaptured. 36 are still at large and search parties have been activated to effect their recapture,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Controller of Prisons (CP), Akwa Ibom State Command, Alex Oditah, has ordered an investigation into the circumstance surrounding the jailbreak.

The CP, therefore, appealed to members of the public to assist the authority with useful intelligence that will aid in the arrest of the fleeing prisoners assuring that security has been strengthened in all prison formations in the state to forestall breach of security.

One Dead, 20 Escape In Latest Congo Jail Break

At least one person was killed and about 20 inmates escaped in a prison break in Bukavu in the east of Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday.

It was at least the sixth such incident in Congo since May.

The inmates escaped after an unidentified person threw a grenade into the prison, Mayor Philemon Yogolelo told Reuters.

A visitor to the prison was killed and four others wounded when prison guards opened fire to try to stop the mass escape. A police official, however, put the number of wounded at two.

Deteriorating security, including an insurrection in central Congo that has killed more than 3,000 people since August, has led some of President Joseph Kabila’s allies to call on him to decree a state of emergency.

Kabila has ruled Congo, a vast tinderbox of rivalries over mineral rights and ethnicity, since 2001.

His refusal to quit power has raised fears the country could relapse into the civil wars of the turn of the century that killed millions.

Bauchi Police Command Foils Attempted Jail Break

Nigeria_Police_Armoured_Personnel_CarrierThe Bauchi State Police Command says it has foiled an attempted jail break at the Bauchi Federal prison.

The jail break, according to the Police, was an attempt to free a suspect standing trial in a case of terrorism.

Addressing journalists on the activities recorded in the last one month at the State Police Headquarters in Bauchi, the Commissioner of Police, Bauchi State Command, Mr. Zaki Ahmed stated that intelligence report led to the arrest of the suspect and his accomplices in the jail break attempt.

The Police command said it has been able to also apprehend other suspects allegedly involved in various crimes ranging from kidnapping to armed banditry, cattle rustling and rape.

Some hostages were also rescued by the security operatives in the course of raids on hideouts of criminals following intelligence report on a kidnap syndicate operating in the state.

Various locally manufactured weapons and other exhibits recovered from the suspects were paraded alongside the suspects including over 40 motorcycles that were used by the suspects to kidnap their victims.

The Police says it has achieved all these in spite of the security challenges confronting Bauchi state in the Northeast region of Nigeria, couple with difficult terrain of forests scattered across the state.

The Police boss further gave the assurance that the hideouts of the criminals especially at the forests will be thoroughly searched with the assistance of other security agents.

 

FG Sacks 23 Prison Officers Over Jailbreaks

Nigeria Prisons Service, Prison, JailbreaksTwenty-three officers of the Nigeria Prisons Service have been relieved of their jobs for their alleged role in the jailbreaks that occurred recently at Kuje Medium Security Prison in the Federal Capital Territory and Koton-Karfe Prison in Kogi State.

This decision was approved at an emergency meeting of the Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prisons Services Board in Abuja on August 11.

A statement from the Nigeria Prisons Service indicates that 17 junior staff of the Kuje and Konton-Karfe prisons have also been sacked in connection with the jailbreaks.

In addition, the officer in charge of the Nsukka Prison in Enugu State, Mr Lawrence Okonkwo and 10 other staff of the facility have been suspended, to allow for an investigation of the escape of 15 inmates from the prison last week, though six of them were said to have been re-arrested.

The sack comes on the heels of the three jailbreaks that occurred between June and August in Kuje, Koton-Karfe and Nsukka prison facilities, all in Nigeria.

Two inmates escaped from the Kuje prison while 13 others fled the Koton-Karfe prison.

The Nsukka jailbreak was the recent where 15 prisoners escaped, just as six escapees were rearrested.

Jail Break: Danbazzau Visits Kuje Prison

Danbazzau, Kuje Prison, Jail breakThe Nigeria Prisons Service will carry out an appraisal of the security arrangements at all the nation’s prisons.

The Minister of Interior, Lieutenant General Abdulrahman Danbazzau (Rtd) revealed this when he visited the Kuje Prison in Abuja.

Two inmates escaped from the Kuje Prison during a jail break at the weekend.

General Dambazau explained that the new arrangement will ensure that there is no re-occurrence of weekend’s jail break.

One Of Two Escaped US Prisoners Killed By Police

us prisonersOne of the two prisoners who escaped from a New York state prison three weeks ago, has been killed by Police.

A 49-year-old Richard Matt, was shot dead in Woodlands, near the town of Malone, about 30 miles from the prison.

David Sweat, another convicted murderer, remains at large as Police continue to search the area.

The pair escaped through the prison sewer system after using power tools to break out of their cell on June 6.

On Friday, Police were called to an area south of Malone where a camper van had been attacked, where they found evidence left behind by the pair in a nearby hunting cabin.

Police said that Matt was later found in woodland, armed with a shotgun, adding that he refused to surrender when officers shot him dead.

Prisoner worker, Joyce Mitchell, has been charged with aiding the inmates in their escape.

Recently, a US prison guard, Gene Palmer, was arrested and detained over the jail break.

Al Qaeda Militants Flee Iraq Jail In Violent Mass Break-Out

Hundreds of convicts, including senior members of al Qaeda, broke out of Iraq’s Abu Ghraib jail as comrades launched a military-style assault to free them, authorities said on Monday.

The deadly raid on the high-security jail happened as Sunni Muslim militants are re-gaining momentum in their insurgency against the Shi’ite-led government that came to power after the U.S. invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.

Suicide bombers drove cars packed with explosives to the gates of the prison on the outskirts of Baghdad on Sunday night and blasted their way into the compound, while gunmen attacked guards with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

Other militants took up positions near the main road, fighting off security reinforcements sent from Baghdad as several militants wearing suicide vests entered the prison on foot to help free the inmates.

Ten policemen and four militants were killed in the ensuing clashes, which continued until Monday morning, when military helicopters arrived, helping to regain control.

By that time, hundreds of inmates had succeeded in fleeing Abu Ghraib, the prison made notorious a decade ago by photographs showing abuse of prisoners by U.S. soldiers.

“The number of escaped inmates has reached 500, most of them were convicted senior members of al Qaeda and had received death sentences,” Hakim Al-Zamili, a senior member of the security and defense committee in parliament, told Reuters.

“The security forces arrested some of them, but the rest are still free.”

One security official told Reuters on condition of anonymity: “It’s obviously a terrorist attack carried out by al Qaeda to free convicted terrorists with al Qaeda.”

A simultaneous attack on another prison, in Taji, around 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, followed a similar pattern, but guards managed to prevent any inmates escaping. Sixteen soldiers and six militants were killed.

CONVOY ATTACK

Sunni insurgents, including the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq, have been regaining strength in recent months and striking on an almost daily basis against Shi’ite Muslims and security forces amongst other targets.

The violence has raised fears of a return to full-blown conflict in a country where Kurds, Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims have yet to find a stable way of sharing power.

In the northern city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives behind a military convoy in the eastern Kokchali district, killing at least 22 soldiers and three passers-by, police said.

Suicide bombings are the hallmark of al Qaeda, which has been regrouping in Mosul, Iraq’s third-largest city and capital of the Sunni-dominated Nineveh province.

A separate attack in western Mosul killed four policemen, police said.

Relations between Islam’s two main denominations have been put under further strain from the civil war in Syria, which has drawn in Shi’ite and Sunni fighters from Iraq and beyond to fight against each other.

Recent attacks have targeted mosques, amateur football matches, shopping areas and cafes where people gather to socialize after breaking their daily fast for the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

Nearly 600 people have been killed in militant attacks across Iraq so far this month, according to violence monitoring group Iraq Body Count.

That is still well below the height of bloodletting in 2006-07, when the monthly death toll sometimes exceeded 3,000.