Lawrence “Larry” Ray has been found guilty of racketeering, trafficking, forced labor and could face life in prison after he was convicted on Wednesday, April 6.



Lawrence Ray was found guilty of s*x trafficking and other crimes for forcing young adults into prostitution or forced labor after winning their trust by posing as a father figure.


Larry started a cult among his daughter Sarah Lawrence’s friends in her college dormitory 12 years ago and engaged in racketeering, s*x trafficking and forced labor on his young adult victims, the court said
It took the jury just few hours on Wednesday to convict Ray, 62, on all 15 counts.


In the last decade Larry ran a criminal enterprise in which he brainwashed and abused his victims, extracting free labor and a significant amount of “restitution” money.



The court was shown evidence how Ray took control of a set of his daughter Talia’s college friends after moving into their campus housing in 2010.


One of the victims, Santos Rosario, later brought two of his sisters into the mix; their involvement with Ray devastated the Rosario family financially and psychologically.



Both sisters are Ivy League-educated, but Felicia Rosario, a medical school graduate, dropped out of her residency program at a California hospital to be with Ray and never went back.


She now works as a tutor; her younger sister Yalitza is unemployed.


The three siblings, who were in courton Wednesday to hear the verdict, left the courtroom with prosecutors.



They declined to speak to reporters after.


The court heard how Ray collected blackmail material by routinely filming or taking audio recordings of his victims confessing to non-existent offenses and crimes.


After aome time, he started to order the young adults to do chores for him and began giving them sexual assignments, including sometimes to have s*x with each other.


Claudia Drury, one of his victims, joined his cult aged 19. She testified that she spent four years working as a prostitute in New York hotel rooms, giving about $2.5 million in her earnings directly to Ray.



Also, Santos Rosario worked as a waiter one summer, handing off everything he earned to Ray. He also paid Ray $150,000 in installments, money that he got from his parents, plus another $13,000 he stole from their business.


“When [Ray’s] victims were completely subdued, when they were under his control, he committed crimes to get them to pay — extortion, forced labor, s*x trafficking, obstruction of justice, financial crimes,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Bracewell argued .


“The defendant did all of this for control, for his own greed, and to increase his power, to cement his position in the organized group that he led.”


He moved into his daughter’s dorm and targeted her roommates for s*x trafficking, prosecutors said.


Prosecutors said Ray captivated his psychologically fragile admirers with tales about his life and the contacts he said he had in government, law enforcement and the military. He once was close with former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, serving as as best man at Kerik’s wedding.



Ray took credit for sending Kerik to prison on corruption-related charges in 2010.



He told victims that he believed there was a government conspiracy to harm him and that his enemies, including Kerik, were out to get him. He also accused his victims of working with his enemies to poison him, his daughter and others.



Ray’s victims were conditioned to believe they were guilty, and in turn they conceded that they owed Ray favors and a lot of money. They testified that they were scared of going to prison for what Ray told them were crimes, and said he routinely threatened to turn them in.


He is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 16 and faces the possibility of life in prison on his s*x trafficking conviction and decades behind bars on the other counts.

Kano State Police Command has arrested a notorious fraudster, Gaddafi Jibrin, who specialises in defrauding people at ATM points in the state.



Spokesperson of the command, SP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, who disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, April 6, said the suspect was arrested in possession of 22 ATM cards of different banks.



The suspect confessed to the crime and said their syndicate used to swap ATM cards and withdraw money from victims' bank accounts.



"On the 20/03/2022 at about 2340hrs, a team of Operation Puff Adder led by CSP Mustapha S. Ahmadu while on intelligence-led patrol along IBB way by Bata Kano, intercepted one Gaddafi Jibrin, ‘m’, aged 33 years old, of Tudun Maliki Quarters, Zoo Road Kano. On spot search, he was found in possession of 22 ATM Cards from different banks," the PRO stated.



"After his arrest, one Kabiru Ado, ‘m’, complained that the suspect and his two gang members approached him while seeking assistance to operate an ATM, deceitfully collected and changed his ATM Cards, while his accomplices fled with his Stanbic IBTC Bank ATM Card. Their Operational Motor Vehicle, Peugeot 206 model was recovered



"On investigation, he confessed to the crime. He further confessed that, they normally use a 206 Peugeot Motor Vehicle to visit ATM points within Kano Metropolis, and that his syndicate members specialized in swapping ATM Cards by intimidating customers at ATM points, disguising under the pretext of assisting them to operate the machine. They have ATM cards from almost all the banks, making it easy for them to swap the ATMs.



"He claimed to have withdrawn money from many people’s accounts after swapping their ATM Cards. Discreet investigation revealed that the syndicate specialized in intimidating, deceiving, swapping the ATM cards of victims, and withdrawing money from their bank accounts."



The State Commissioner of Police, CP Sama’ila Shu’aibu Dikko, ordered for discreet investigation, and arrest of escaped accomplices and strongly warns that criminals will have no hiding place in Kano State.



The CP advised them to either repent or leave the state completely. He urged residents to report incidences to the nearest Police Station and not to take laws into their hands.

In one of the biggest cocaine hauls in UK history, authorities have confiscated nearly four tonnes of cocaine found in boxes of bananas in Southampton.



Authorities say it is the largest seizure of the Class A substance in the UK for seven years, according to the Home Office.


The containers recently arrived in the Southampton's dock from Colombia.


Once the goods arrived, the UK's Border Force and National Crime Agency (NCA) targeted them for inspection where they discovered more than 3.7 tonnes of cocaine hydrochloride, used to make crack cocaine, concealed within a container of 20 pallets of bananas.
The white powdery substance estimated to have a value of around £300 million was found on March 17, 2022, authorities said on Wednesday, April 6.


Reacting to the development, UK Home Secretary Priti Patel said:



‘This is the largest seizure of cocaine in the UK since 2015. It should serve as a warning to anyone trying to smuggle illegal drugs into the country that we are out to get them.


‘A key focus of our beating crime plan is disrupting the supply chain and relentless pursuit of the criminals peddling these narcotics, making the drugs market a low-reward high risk enterprise.


‘The police and Border Force have my 100% backing to use all available powers to stop devastating drugs from coming into our neighbourhoods and destroying lives.’



The NCA branded the seizure ‘monumental’ and said it denied organised crime groups massive profits.


‘There’s no doubt some of this cocaine would have been cut up and sold across UK streets, feeding crime and misery in our communities’, Peter Stevens, the organisation’s regional head of investigations, said.

Lagos police command spokesperson, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, has reacted to a claim made by a Twitter user that a young boy was killed by trailer while being pursued by police officers who demanded to check his phone



Twitter user @Austynzogs who made the allegation, wrote

''This evening at Festac First Gate,Lagos/Badagry expressway,a Police team was reportedly chasing a young boy to collect his phone, alleging that he is a Yahoo boy. While the boy was trying to escape,an oncoming trailer hit him. Police fled''



Reacting, SP Hundeyin said the allegation is false. According to him, the deceased carelessly crossed the road and was knocked down by the trailer. He said the driver of the trailer also mentioned that the deceased wasn't being chased by anyone.

A syndicate of fraudsters who specialise in defrauding unsuspecting members of the public have been busted by the Katsina State Police Command.



The state police spokesperson, Gambo Isah in a statement released on Wednesday April 6, said the operation was based on a tip-off and the command succeeded in arresting the trio of Abdullahi Mohd Shaba, Micheal Odoba Ochi, of Kuje quarters, Abuja, D. Mydox resources investment ltd and Earnest Omachunu, of Barnawa Quarters, Kaduna.



The suspects are accused of conspiring and fraudulently swindling one Alh Lawal Mani, of Dangoro Quarters, Katsina, of the sum of N13,500,000 under the pretext of supplying him with AGO fuel.



The victim was reportedly lured by the suspects to deposit the money in two different accounts; one belonging to one Alh. Abdullahi Mohd Shaba and the second belonging to one Mydox Resource Investiment LTD.



In the course of the interrogation, the suspects confessed to committing the offence. Isah added that efforts are on course to arrest other members of the syndicate who are at large.

The Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture (BoA), Alwan Ali-Hassan, has regained freedom from his abductors nine days after he was abducted during the attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train on March 28.



Ali-Hassan was on the train when it was bombed by the bandits and afterward, he was abducted alongside over 100 other passengers. Eight of the 316 passengers on board the train sadly lost their lives.



Confirming his release to The Nation, a senior official at the bank said Ali-Hassan regained his freedom today Wednesday, April 6.



It is however not clear if a ransom was paid for his release.

A young woman identified as Ann Oshaifi from Delta state was reportedly murdered by a suspected ritualist in Lagos.



Human rights activist, Comrade Israel Joe, who disclosed this via Facebook on Wednesday, April 6, said that Ann was butchered into pieces with her vital parts harvested.



According to Joe, the suspected killer was arrested last month and arraigned in court in Ikeja on Tuesday, April 5.



It was gathered that the deceased was reported missing before her mutilated body was found dumped in a bag. Read the full report below:

The way you were k!lled and brutally mùrdered broke my heart and everyday, I had wished you listened to my advise just a week before your de.ath.



I have never wanted to say Rest in Peace Ann but you have pushed me. You came to my dream this past night and the only thing you told me before walking away was "Israel Joe fight for me please the guy k!lled me. Before I could exclaim in surprise, you were gone. I was like Tessy, are you alive? What happened to you? You just disappeared.



On the 21st to 23rd of October in 2021, my comrades and I went to the Annual General Conference (AGC) of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) Nigeria which took place at our national secretariat #43 Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, Lagos.



The moment I uploaded my location on Facebook, you called my lines that you were also in Ikeja Lagos. You came and participated in the conference as an observer. In the evening of 22nd October, we sat in my hotel to discuss many issues.



I had advised you to return to Warri and manage your shop until there are openings but you told me you sold your shop located at PTI road and wants to based in Lagos before making your papers to log out of Nigeria. I remembered how I resolved the issue you had with the landlady of your shop three years ago.



My friends who were with me including Comrade Daniel Osemudiame Ezewele , Comrade Ceaser Junior and others also joined me in appealing to you to return to Warri.



The next day you called me again if we could hang out but I told you I was at Lekki where we were been hosted by one of our comrades Solomon Egwatu. Just a week after then, our mutual friend here in Warri, Evi Whiskey called me that you were missing. I called the then commissioner of Police Lagos CP Hakeem and tried all contacts I had but to no avail.



When I saw how your body was butchered, cut into pieces with your vital parts harvested, put into a bag, I broke down in tears as your killer was arrested last month.



I can't look at the pictures twice Ann, but like you said in my dreams, I will fight for you. Yesterday 5th April, the case was heard in Ikeja, Lagos and I hope the Judiciary will not let the i.d.i.o.t guy out of the hook.



It is my conviction that you're not the first girl this guy has killed and if released will not be the last. I shall move forward shortly to trend his picture on the internet so that Lagos State can know they have a ritualist next door.



It is also my believe that anyone who engages in the business of killing and selling of vital parts of human beings has no business being alive.



He is wealthy because of the business he does but trust you were the light of your family and he has dimmed that light and even put it of. I will get myself set, hire more lawyer to join in the prosecution team.



I will fight for you dear and be in Lagos in the next court day. I remembered how you kept me in your house for three days when I was being trailed for assassination just three years ago. You were a friend anyone would pray to have. Trust I will fight for you as you have said Ann Oshaifi Rest in Peace dearest.

A Kano Chief Magistrates’ Court, has ordered the remand of 107-year-old woman, Furera Abubakar, and Isah Hassan, 17, in a correctional centre for allegedly plucking out the eyeball of a 12-year-old boy.



LIB reported that the Kano State Police Command had on March 29, arrested the defendants for removing the right eyeball of the Almajiri boy for suspected charm purposes.



Isah, the first defendant, was allegedly ordered to bring a human eye to be used in preparing an “appear and disappear” charm by the second defendant, Abubakar.



The Prosecution counsel, Lamido Soron-Dinki, told the court on Wednesday, April 6, that the defendants committed the offence on March 19, at Rimin Hamza Quarters, Tarauni Local Government Area of Kano State.



Abubakar and Isah, both residents of Dantsinke Quarters, Kano, are standing trial on a two-count charge bordering on criminal conspiracy and attempt to commit culpable homicide.



Soron-Dinki alleged that on the same date at about 9:00 p.m, the defendants conspired, deceived and lured Mustapha Yunus to a nearby stream and plucked out his right eye with a sharp knife.



"As a result, the victim sustained grievous hurt and was rushed to Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, where he was admitted for treatment.”



The plea of the defendants were, however, not taken.



According to the prosecutor, the offences contravened the provision of sections 97 and 229 of the Penal Code.



The Chief Magistrate, Muhammad Jibril, subsequently ordered the remand of the defendants in a correctional centre.



Jibril adjourned the matter until April 11, for further mention.

A suspected thief has been arrested after attempting to inject a salesgirl with an insecticide in Ogbomosho, Oyo state.


The suspect came into the store on the pretext he wanted to buy a laptop. Some minutes later, he attacked the sales girl and attempted to inject her with a liquid substance later discovered to be a pesticide.


He was arrested and has been handed over to the police.