The Police Commander in Rivers has arrested four suspected members of a kidnapping syndicate and rescued a woman abducted from her shop in the state.

The command’s Spokesperson, Blessing Agabe, disclosed this on Thursday in Port Harcourt.

Agabe said that a white-tinted minibus allegedly used by the gang was also recovered.

She also said that the rescue followed an intelligence-led operation by operatives of the command’s Violent Crime Rescue Unit.

According to her, the victim’s husband, Ikechukwu, 35, reported the abduction on July 11.

“The woman was attending to customers at her shop when armed men stormed the premises and abducted her. The suspects forced the victim into a white-tinted minibus before fleeing the scene.

“Following the report, the command launched an intelligence-driven investigation which led operatives to the gang’s hideout.

“Four male suspects, aged between 28 and 42, were arrested at the hideout. The victim was rescued unharmed during the operation.”

Agabe added that all the four suspects have confessed to their individual roles in the crime.

The spokesperson said efforts were ongoing to apprehend two other members of the syndicate still at large and to recover the firearms used in their operations.

She urged residents to provide prompt and credible information to the police, assuring that “every useful piece of information provided will be treated with the utmost confidentiality”.

She reiterated the command’s commitment to protecting lives and property through intelligence-led policing and lawful strategies aimed at bringing criminal elements to justice.

A Federal High Court in Ibadan on Thursday sentenced a 40-year-old woman, Omodunmami Ayantola to one year in the correctional centre for trafficking 45.6kg of Cannabis.

Delivering judgment, Justice Uche Agomoh convicted and sentenced Ayantola based on her guilty plea and the evidence tendered against her by the prosecution.

Agomoh added that she reduced the convict’s jail term because she did not waste the time and resources of the court before pleading guilty.

She said that the convict was also a first time offender.

“The convict has shown signs of remorse and has promised to turn a new leaf after completing her jail term.

“To serve as a deterrent to others, Ayantola is sentenced to one year imprisonment from the date of arrest.

“The dried weed substance found in her possession shall be destroyed by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA),” Agomoh said.

The prosecuting counsel, D.O. Otunla, had told the court that the convict committed the crime on April 1, at Eleta area of Ibadan, Oyo State.

Otunla said that the NDLEA operatives received intelligence reports from informants that Ayantola was into illicit drug dealing.

According to him, the operatives arrested the convict in possession of a substantial quantity of Cannabis Sativa weighing 45.6kg.

The prosecutor said that the offence contravened the provision of Section 11 (C) of the NDLEA Act Cap n30 Law of the Federation, 2004.

A man suspected of killing his wife and two daughters in Bedfordshire has been in court in South Africa after UK authorities submitted an application to extradite him.

Nothabo Zandile Tshuma, 42, and her daughters Natalie, 15, and Nala, five, were found dead by police in a house in Great Denham, near Bedford, on 6 July.

The Crown Prosecution Service has authorised three murder charges against Ndodana Mkhanyisi Tshuma, 45, who is a British citizen of Zimbabwean heritage.

He has appeared before magistrates in Johannesburg where he confirmed his name and was told a further court hearing would take place on 22 July.

During the hearing he indicated he would be speaking in English.

His mother and sister were seated in the court’s public gallery, and Tshuma waved to his family as he was taken down to the holding cells at the end of Monday’s hearing.

South African police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe explained that the court proceedings concern the extradition request and a charge of illegal possession of firearms.

She said: “We can confirm that South Africa has received a provisional extradition request from Interpol Manchester through to Interpol Pretoria.

“We will be awaiting a full extradition request within 40 days, which will include the case docket as well as supporting evidence.

“However, we can confirm that, for now, we do have the warrant of arrest from UK authorities.”

Police added that he travelled from Heathrow Airport in London to South Africa, via Dubai, and he briefly went to Zimbabwe before returning to Johannesburg.

He was arrested in the Kensington suburb of the city on Friday.

In a tribute, family members said “words cannot begin to express the depth of our emptiness and sorrow in the fact of this tragic and senseless loss of life”.