From Dan Amasingha, Minna

The disappearance of 11-year-old Christabel Albert after she left home for a birthday celebration has ended in tragedy, with the Niger State Police Command confirming her death and the arrest of a 26 year-old church security guard in connection with the incident.

Christabel reportedly left her home in Suleja on September 19 to attend a relative’s birthday celebration within the area but did not return.

The following day, the alarm was raised over her disappearance.

According to the Niger State Police Command, a report was lodged at the ‘A’ Division, Suleja, at about 12:30pm on September 20.

Later that evening, a pastor of the Apostolic Church in Suleja reported the discovery of a body inside a well located within the church premises.

Police operatives, assisted by officials of the local government welfare department, recovered the body and took it to the General Hospital, Suleja, for examination.

The body was subsequently identified as that of the missing child.

As investigators began piecing together the circumstances surrounding Christabel’s death, suspicion fell on Godwin Dauda, a 26-year-old security guard attached to the church.

The police said Dauda became a person of interest after information emerged suggesting his possible connection with the incident and his disappearance from the church premises shortly afterwards.

He was eventually arrested on September 23 at about 8pm in the Kuje area of the Federal Capital Territory, where he had reportedly fled to.

The police said the suspect, during interrogation, confessed to luring Christabel into his security room on September 19, where he sexually assaulted her and suffocated her by blocking her mouth and nose.

He reportedly told investigators that the child died in the process, after which he disposed off her body in the well in an attempt to conceal the incident before fleeing the area.

The Command, however, stressed that the investigation was still ongoing and that the full circumstances surrounding the child’s death were yet to be established.

Dauda has since been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Minna, for further interrogation and prosecution.

In a statement issued by the Police Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun, urged members of the public to disregard unverified accounts circulating on social media concerning the incident.

He said the Command remained committed to transparency, accountability, protection of vulnerable persons and ensuring that justice was served.

For Christabel’s family, however, the investigation comes after the devastating loss of a child whose ordinary outing for a family celebration ended in tragedy.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has detained a newlywed businessman at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA), Enugu, for attempting to traffic 72 wraps of ingested cocaine.

The suspect (name withheld) is travelling to Portugal, where he resides.

This is contained in a statement by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, on Sunday in Abuja.

He said that the 25-year-old groom was intercepted by the NDLEA operatives at the departure hall of the Enugu airport on Sept. 25, with cocaine in his gut and wedding ring on his finger.

Babafemi said that the suspect attempted to board an Ethiopian Airline flight to Portugal via Addis Ababa.

He said that the suspect was placed under excretion observation, and egested 72 wraps of cocaine.

The spokesman said that preliminary investigation showed that the suspect was into car decoration business in the Ojo area of Lagos before relocating to Portugal in May 2023.

“The suspect returned to Nigeria recently, and married on Sept 13. He resorted to the criminal trade to offset expenses incurred during his wedding,” he said.

Babafemi said that on Sept. 22, the agency uncovered one of the biggest opioid hauls at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

He said that the operatives during a joint examination of three monitored consignments seized 2,550,000 pills of Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg, and Royal Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 1,640.55 kilograms.

The spokesman said that the consignments were imported from India and Bangladesh via Qatar Airways, RwandAir, and Ethiopian Airlines.

In Bauchi, Babafemi said that NDLEA operatives arrested two suspects along the Maiduguri Bypass with 300 compressed blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 262.5kg, concealed in the false bottom of a truck marked MUB 757 YH.

He said that on Sept. 23, NDLEA operatives supported by soldiers destroyed two cannabis farms with a combined estimated yield of 1,360.23kg at Eko Camp, Ilushi in Edo.

Babafemi added that the operatives on Sept. 26, detained two female suspects during a raid at Anifowoshe Street in Mushin Lagos, and recovered 3.4kg skunk from them.

Also, Babafemi said that the operatives intercepted a 58-year-old man on Sept. 26, at Ebute-Ero Motor Park in Lagos, with large quantities of illicit consignments.

He said that the seized drugs included 5.920kg skunk; 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection; 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam; and 40,000 pills of tramadol.

Similarly, two Togolese were nabbed by the NDLEA officers on Sept. 26, at Iganna – Ilero Road, Iganna, Oyo State, with 305.6kg of skunk.

Babafemi said that the illicit substances were concealed in two pick-up vans used for a cross-border trafficking racket, moving Ghanaian-sourced cannabis into Nigeria through the Oyo axis.

Additionally, at the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, five suspects were arrested with 420 cartons of nitrous oxide popularly called “laughing gas” weighing 1,688.4kg, along with two vehicles used in conveying the substances from the border into Lagos.

According to Babafemi, NDLEA commands and formation are continuing with the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities to schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities across the country.

Babafemi quoted the NDLEA Chairman, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd) as commending officers and men of MMIA, AIIA, Lagos, Oyo, Edo, Seme, and Bauchi Commands for the successful operations.

Marwa enjoined the officers across the country to continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the agency. (NAN)

Operatives of the Federal Capital Territory Police Command have arrested approximately 300 persons, following a raid on identified crime flashpoints, shanties and incomplete buildings across the FCT.

According to the command, the raid was part of ongoing efforts to prevent crime, disrupt criminal activities, and enhance the safety and security of residents.

The operation took place on Saturday, September 19, 2026.

This was revealed in a statement issued at the Command’s headquarters in Abuja by the Police Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh, and tweeted via the command’s X handle on Sunday.

Adeh noted that the suspects are currently undergoing “thorough screening and profiling,” adding that offenders will be charged to court, while those with no case to answer will be released.

“The operation, carried out across various locations, led to the raid of several identified criminal hideouts, with approximately 300 persons taken into custody for screening. Items recovered during the operation include knives, a toy gun, cannabis and other illicit drugs.

“The suspects are currently undergoing thorough screening and profiling. Those found to have committed offences will be appropriately charged to court in accordance with the law, while persons found to have no case to answer will be released after due screening,” the statement partly read.

The command’s Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Sanusi, stressed the command’s commitment to sustain “intelligence-led raids and proactive policing operations across the Territory, particularly at locations identified as potential hideouts for criminals.”

He advised the youths and residents within the FCT to desist from drug abuse and urged those already suffering from it to seek appropriate counselling and rehabilitation support.

Sanusi said, “The CP further cautions youths and other residents against the use and abuse of illicit drugs, stressing that substance abuse can impair judgment, fuel violent and criminal behaviour, and expose individuals and communities to serious security risks.

“He urges anyone struggling with drug use to seek appropriate counselling and rehabilitation support rather than allowing substance abuse to lead them into criminal activities.”

The police boss further cautioned police officers involved in such operations to maintain professional conduct, adding that they shouldn’t use raids or arrests as an “avenue for extortion, intimidation, harassment or unlawful demands for money, stressing that any officer found engaging in such misconduct will face appropriate disciplinary action.

“The FCT Police Command remains committed to protecting lives and property and calls on residents to continue providing credible and timely information on suspicious activities and criminal hideouts within their communities.

“For emergencies or to provide useful security information, members of the public are encouraged to contact the FCT Police Command through the emergency line 08032003913,” the statement concluded.