Free Republic

Oladipo Sowunmi Coker is a key suspect in a $10 million national identity theft ring that prosecutors say set up shop in the Twin Cities over the past few years. And it appears he's the one who successfully fled the country. Coker, 29, lived in Woodbury for at least part of the time he allegedly trafficked thousands of identification documents. He was on hand when more than $160,000 was withdrawn from bank accounts in Minnesota and Wisconsin — but always in increments of less than $10,000, according to documents in support of a search warrant that were filed recently in...

FORTUNE -- A luxury suite at the W Hotel in Dallas is as good a place as any to conquer the world. At least it seemed that way in 2007 when Tobechi Onwuhara got the crew together. They'd meet there often, seven or eight of them. Some had nicknames from the Ian Fleming lexicon: C, Q, and E. Others were called Mookie, Orji, Uche. They would spread out on designer sofas and at the wet bar, open three-ring binders, and fire up laptops with hard-to-trace wireless cards. On a nearby table there'd be prepaid cellphones with area codes taped to...

STORYMIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (WSVN) -- A man has been arrested after, officials said, he caused a security scare at a South Florida airport. On Jan. 11, Miami-Dade Police officers stopped Oluwole Aboyade in the Dolphin parking garage at MIA after he reportedly began taking pictures of sensitive areas at the airport. According to a Miami-Dade Police report, an officer said he became alarmed when he saw Aboyade taking pictures of buildings, surveillance cameras, airport runways and restricted areas. When the police approached the Nigerian national, he said he would remain silent. The police report read, "Mr. Aboyade was observed walking...

To be offered private stock in Facebook, wealthy clients of Goldman Sachs had to have a spare $2 million lying around. But even the hoi polloi may have a similar pitch sitting in their email inboxes right now. As a first step to drum up investor interest in Facebook stock, Goldman Sachs shot missives to clients with the opaque subject line, “Private Investment,” according to an email reviewed by Deal Journal. We couldn’t help compare it to another solicitation for money, from an anonymous Nigerian who assures you of a giant payout if you help him get back to his...

WASHINGTON - A British man whose behavior raised suspicions at a flight school in Georgia has been located in England, an FBI official said Friday. Zayead Christopher Hajaig, 35, was taking lessons at the same airport in suburban Atlanta where two of the Sept. 11 hijackers briefly trained, the official said on condition of anonymity because the matter is still under investigation. The Atlanta Joint Terrorism Task Force issued a special bulletin to law enforcement and flight schools this week after it received reports from the school that Hajaig became hostile while trying to upgrade his pilot's license, according to...

NOTE The following text is a quote: September 8, 2010 2 men plead guilty to impersonating U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in advance fee fraud scheme MIAMI - Saleumsak Khammungkhune, 57, of San Diego, and David Johnson, aka Ukoha Eke, 39, a Nigerian national residing in Upper Marlboro, Md., pleaded guilty to conspiring to impersonate U. S. officers and to commit wire fraud following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). David Johnson pleaded guilty earlier today before U.S. District Judge William Dimitrouleas to conspiracy to impersonate a federal officer and to...

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They were strangers living in different parts of the world till about three months ago, when terminal liver failure brought them together in Delhi. Now, 18-month-old Nigerian boy Dike and 44-year-old Mumbai resident Priya have become India's first patients to successfully undergo a swap liver transplant surgery. Unable to find suitable donors with a matching blood group for either Dike or Priya, doctors from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital decided to try out a liver swap, much on the lines of a swap kidney transplant, which has now become common. Five months after his birth, doctors diagnosed Dike with Billiary Atresia...

Two journalists working for a Christian magazine were hacked to death by a mob in a predominantly Muslim suburb in the flashpoint Nigerian city of Jos. "They were macheted in an area that is predominantly Muslim and one can deduce that the killers were Muslim," said Katdapba Gobum, chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists ... Relatives of one of the men called his cellphone when he failed to turn up for an appointment. The phone was answered by a Hausa-speaking man who claimed to have killed the journalist...

WASHINGTON - For hours after allegedly trying to use a bomb hidden in his underwear to blow up a Christmas Day flight to Detroit, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab talked and talked — to U.S. Customs officers, medical personnel, and FBI agents. He spoke openly about what he'd done and why, and provided valuable intelligence, U.S. officials told The Associated Press in a series of interviews that spell out for the first time the details of Abdulmutallab's arrest and questioning on Dec. 25. Badly burned and bleeding, the suspect tried one last gambit as he was taken from the plane: He claimed...

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas acted alone and probably smuggled the explosives from Nigeria, the Dutch public prosecutor said on Tuesday.

Passenger films Northwest Flight 253 bomb attempt On Northwest flight 253 this past Christmas day as we all now know, a Nigerian man attempted to blow up the plane which thankfully failed. But with nearly 300 passengers and crew on board you would expect that someone with a camera or better yet a camcorder would be filming or taking pictures. These days most everyone has a cell phone with camera or video capabilities. Well there was at least one man that we know of that was filming the entire event, witness’s on board mentioned it during the various interviews that...

PASSPORT NUMBER ALSO REVEALED, ZUMUNTA ASSOCIATION USA CONDEMNS ACT Lagos (THEWILL)- THEWILL has continued to investigate the attempted terrorist attack in the United States by a Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab. The Director General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren told journalists on Boxing Day that Umar bought his ticket at the airport office of KLM Airlines in Accra, Ghana without leaving any contact details then returned to Nigeria. "The ticket information revealed that the ticket was purchased in Accra, for $2, 831, with original routing for Lagos - Amsterdam- Detroit- Amsterdam- Accra, but was later re-issued...

The Nigerian suspected in the attempted attack on a U.S. airliner had stayed on in Yemen illegally after his visa expired three months ago and should have been stopped by authorities from leaving the country, Yemeni security officials said Thursday.

The U.S. government had intelligence from Yemen before Christmas that leaders of a branch of Al Qaeda there were talking about "a Nigerian" being prepared for a terrorist attack.

As some Houston leaders called on Sunday for measures to help guard against future terrorist attacks, others questioned why the Nigerian man charged with trying to destroy a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit spent time last year in Houston. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is believed to have traveled to Houston in 2008, but no details of the trip were available Sunday. U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston declined to discuss any connection Abdulmutallab might have to the city, saying details of the investigation remain classified. U.S. government officials did confirm that they are looking into his travel itinerary, but the FBI...

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DETROIT — A prominent Nigerian banker said Saturday he feared his son was the man authorities say tried to blow up a plane as it prepared to land in Detroit before nearby passengers — who saw a glow and heard what sounded like firecrackers — tackled him. The suspect tried ignite the explosive device onboard a Northwest Airlines plane from Amsterdam just before it landed in Detroit on Friday, officials said. Travelers who say they smelled smoke and heard a popping noise said at least one man climbed over a seat and jumped on the man.

An al Qaida-linked suspect who allegedly tried to blow up a transatlantic plane is studying at a UK university, it has been reported. The Nigerian is accused of trying to detonate a powdery substance on a plane from Amsterdam as it prepared to land at Detroit with 278 people on board. US sources said he was subdued by passengers and has since claimed to have been acting for al Qaida. He has been named by ABC News as Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, an engineering student at University College London, with the broadcaster citing US government documents. The suspect, who has...

LOS ANGELES — A homeless man was arrested and charged with arson for starting a tiny blaze in August near the spot where a gigantic wildfire erupted several days later, killing two firefighters, homicide detectives said Monday. Babatunsin Olukunle, 25, is the strongest lead to date in the arson investigation stemming from a fire that destroyed 89 homes, burned 250 square miles of national forest and killed two firefighters when their truck plunged off a road. It was one of the largest fires in Southern California history.