Bandits in military uniform have killed at least four and injured several others in an attack on Unguwan Lalle community in Sabon Birni Local Government Area of Sokoto State.

The incident, which started around 8pm on Sunday, was said to have lasted until 2am on Monday.

The bandits, during the attack, reportedly looted homes and shops and rustled an unspecified number of livestock.

According to Daily Trust, residents said the attackers operated for nearly six hours despite the presence of security personnel in the area earlier in the day.

Residents also disclosed that the assailants equally looted homes and shops and rustled an unspecified number of livestock during the late-night raid, residents said.

They stated that the heavily armed assailants, estimated to be about 200, stormed the community from different directions, initially deceiving residents into believing they were security personnel.

“We thought they were soldiers because they were wearing military uniforms. They surrounded the village, opened fire on anyone trying to escape, ransacked our homes, carted away our livestock and looted goods from our shops,” a resident said.

According to one of the residents, the military had arrived in two armoured vehicles after bandits allegedly killed a farmer earlier in the day.

“The soldiers responded quickly and stayed in the village until about 8 p.m. before returning to their base. Just a few minutes after they left, the bandits came back wearing military uniforms,” he said.

The spokesperson for the Sokoto State Police Command, DSP Ahmad Rufa’i, when contacted, confirmed the killing of a farmer in the area but said he had not been briefed on the reported attack on the community.

“I have received a report confirming the killing of one person in the area on Sunday. However, I have not yet been briefed about the other reported attack on the community,” he said.

A fugitive drug trafficker who spent nearly a decade on the run after jumping bail and a former professional footballer have been sentenced to a combined 24 years imprisonment for cocaine trafficking.

Security analyst, Zagazola Makama reported that Justice Musa Kakaki of the Federal High Court in Lagos convicted the two men after finding them guilty of cocaine trafficking offences.

According to the report, the convicts, Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu and former international footballer Segun George Hunkarin, were found guilty of offences linked to the importation of 7.05 kilograms of cocaine into Nigeria.

Makama reported that Chinedu was first arraigned in 2015 for importing 6.25 kilograms of cocaine but absconded after being granted bail, evading arrest for almost 10 years.

He was rearrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, on June 24, 2025, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, while allegedly attempting to smuggle another 800 grams of cocaine into the country aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa.

Investigations, according to the report, revealed that Chinedu collected the drug consignment during a stopover in Addis Ababa after travelling from Turkey.

The report added that NDLEA operatives also arrested Hunkarin at the airport car park, where he was allegedly waiting to receive the cocaine shipment.

During interrogation, Hunkarin reportedly admitted he trafficked illicit drugs on two occasions while playing professional football in Brazil.

Justice Kakaki sentenced Chinedu to 20 years imprisonment for the 2015 cocaine importation case and an additional 2 years for conspiring with Hunkarin to import the 800-gram consignment, bringing his total jail term to 22 years.

Hunkarin was sentenced to two years imprisonment without the option of a fine for conspiracy.

Reacting to the judgment, NDLEA Chairman, retired Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa, described the conviction as proof of the agency’s determination to track down fugitives and ensure drug traffickers are brought to justice, regardless of how long they evade arrest.

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Delta State Command, has arrested five suspected members of a vandalism syndicate in Kwale, Delta State.

The command through its PR unit described the recorded arrest as another major breakthrough in its sustained campaign against the vandalisation of critical national assets within the state.

A press release issued by the command stated that the operatives acted on credible intelligence, in collaboration with the Utagba Ogbe Vigilante Group, to carry out a targeted operation in the area.

The command said the five-man gang was arrested for their alleged involvement in the vandalisation of electricity power line cables and other critical power infrastructure.

The recovered exhibits have been secured as evidence, while investigations continue to identify and apprehend other members of the syndicate, including those involved in receiving and trading the stolen items.

Preliminary investigations indicate that the suspects allegedly involved in the vandalisation, possession, purchase, and sale of stolen electricity power line cables, an act of economic sabotage that undermines public infrastructure and threatens the nation’s electricity supply.

The arrested suspects were named to include; Mbube Godwin Anioh, 20 years old, Ekeanys Onyemechinyi, 19 years old, Muhammadu Atamnu, 37 years old, Chibuke Anah Ehiya, 20 years and Nworomu Ekpede, 17 years old.

The command has assured the public that all suspects found culpable will be prosecuted in accordance with the law upon the conclusion of investigations.