News Briefs

Two arrested in anti-scamming operations

Thirty-two-year-old Jermaine Brown, otherwise called ‘Jail Bud’, of Montego West Village in St James, has been charged with possession of identity information with intent following an operation in sections of St James on Thursday. A female was also taken into custody on reasonable suspicion for possession of an access device.

Several searches were carried out in neighbouring communities between 1:20 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. A search of the premises, which was occupied by Brown, revealed one cellular phone and several Microsoft Excel documents populated with identity information of persons residing overseas.

Another premises was searched on Leaders Avenue, during which a female was found in possession of a United States of America Bank Visa debit card. She was unable to give satisfactory account for same.

They were both arrested.

 

 

Two suspected suicides rock Manchester

Thirty-year-old Dwayne Sinclair, labourer of Newlands in Mandeville, Manchester, is suspected to have committed suicide in his community on Thursday.

Reports from the Mandeville police are that about 4 a.m., residents stumbled upon the body and alerted them. On their arrival, it was seen hanging from a tree by a belt, which was tied to the neck.

On Wednesday, residents and family members went in search of 24-year-old Cosmour Copeland of Cumberland district in Spaldings, Manchester, and found his body hanging by a rope from a tree. The police were summoned, the scene processed, and the body removed to the morgue.

He is suspected to have committed suicide on Sunday.

Investigations continue.

 

 

Nigerian chief justice banned from public office

ABUJA (AP):

A tribunal in Nigeria has ordered the country’s chief justice removed from the bench and banned him from holding public office for 10 years.

Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen already had been suspended from the Supreme Court. Prosecutors charged him in January with failing to obey laws requiring public officials to declare financial assets.

The tribunal found Onnoghen guilty. He had argued that the allegations were without merit.

The tribunal’s chairman, Judge Danladi Umar, also ordered Onnoghen to forfeit money to the Nigerian government.

Critics alleged that the justice’s suspension, just weeks before a February election, was an effort by President Muhammadu Buhari to weaken the judiciary. Defence lawyer Okan Nkanu accused the tribunal that removed Onnoghen from office of bias.

Onnoghen is the first chief justice of Nigeria’s top court to stand trial.

 

 

 

Sudan officials: Ousted president moved to Khartoum prison

KHARTOUM (AP):

Sudan’s military rulers transferred ousted President Omar al-Bashir to a prison in the country’s capital as hundreds of people marched this week to a sit-in outside the army headquarters in Khartoum, calling for a quick handover of power to a civilian leadership.

The significance of the transfer of al-Bashir, who was ousted last week by the military after four months of street protests against his 30-year rule, was not immediately clear.

The military has said that it would not extradite him to the International Criminal Court to face charges of war crimes and genocide in the region of Darfur but would instead put him on trial at home. However, it did not rule out that a subsequent civilian government could someday hand over al-Bashir to the ICC. A pariah in many countries, there are few options for the ousted president.