End of the road for human parts dealers

It was indeed an odd hour. The expectation by the suspects was that they had perfected their strategies to smuggle human parts from Kebbi State through Minna to Gwagwalada in the Federal Capital Territory at about 3am last Monday. Unfortunately for them, nemesis caught up with them.

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Last Monday, eight suspects, including five non- Nigerians, were rounded up at the Chanchaga end of Minna, the state capital along Minna – Paiko road by the Police.
The suspects were said to be driving on top speed in a bid to beat a police checkpoint but they were eventually forced to a halt.
When asked to subject themselves for the routine check, the suspects decided to play games with the police who uncompromisingly insisted on searching them. The uncompromising stance of the police eventually paved way for the shocking discovery.
After carrying out a check on the suspects and the car without any incriminating exhibits found on them, the policemen insisted on checking the boot of the car. The suspects initially resisted but after insistence by the police, they succumbed.
In the box which was brought out from the boot of the car were parts of a male human body neatly parked.
The suspects were heading for Gwagwalada to deliver the “good” to a 41-year-old herbalist, Adamu Jibrin Mokwa.
Five of those arrested are Abdulkadir Audu, Isah Mammam who is the driver of the vehicle, Dogo Haruna, Sadi Dogobi and Hamisu Abdullahi, all of Benin Republic nationals.
Others are Atiku Maiturari and Abdullahi Gwandu from Kebbi State.
After an on-the-spot interrogation by the police at the checkpoint, the suspects were taken to the Police Headquarters Minna for further interrogation.
One of the suspects, Abdullahi Gwandu confessed to the police that he actually had a business deal with Atiku Maiturari to convey his guests to Gwagwalada to deliver some goods.
He said he did not resist the offer since he thought it was a normal business engagement.
Asked whether he knew the content of the box found in the boot of the car, Abdullahi said he only knew it was a package of assorted meat but did not even bother to ask or find out the exact type of meat.
One of the suspects also confessed to how they came about the human parts. He said a Fulani dead body was exhumed after which the needed parts were dissected from the main body before they headed for their destination — Gwagwalada.
Reacting to the development, the state police spokesman, ASP Richard Oguche described the act as barbaric, adding that investigation into the matter was still on.
He promised that all those involved would be fished out and made to face the law no matter how highly placed such people are in the society.
ASP Oguche promised that those involved will be charged to court immediately after Police have concluded their own investigations.
The herbalist, Adamu Jibrin Mokwa, had during interrogation also confessed that Atiku Audu had actually contacted him to embark on a special prayer for the successful actualisation of his political ambition and promised to pay him N2 million for the prayers.
He however denied having a fore knowledge of whether some human parts would be sent to him for the prayers.
The PPRO stated that the suspects have also confessed that they are mere agents to their master who is resident in Birnin Kebbi, adding that they are ready to lead the police to Kebbi State.
Oguche called on members of the public not to see the police checkpoints in the country from negative perspectives, pointing out that they have succeeded in trapping down deadly armed robbers and other criminals at various check points across the country during which stolen vehicles and other properties worth million of naira were recovered.
He said rather than attack the police for mounting check points, they should be complemented and necessary co-operating given them when duty calls for the normal routine check. By so doing, he said, members of the public will also be contributing to the war against criminals in the society.

Doctor Killing Patients

Patient hospitalised after seeing relief doctor who killed man on first shift

• Woman taken ill after 'inappropriate' treatment
• Inquiry launched after errors by exhausted GP

David Gray died after Dr Daniel Ubani administered him with 100mg of diamorphine - 10 times the recommended maximum dose



A woman patient had to be taken to hospital after receiving "inappropriate" treatment from the foreign doctor who killed a man with a lethal overdose on his first shift providing out-of-hours GP cover.

The woman's case came to light as police investigated a possible manslaughter charge against Dr Daniel Ubani, a German national of Nigerian origin, over the death of 70-year-old David Gray last year.

The woman in her 50s ended up at Addenbrooke's hospital, Cambridge, within hours of being seen by Ubani. She was the patient Ubani visited immediately before the fatal housecall.

She said: "I class myself as extremely lucky … it made me worried about calling out-of-hours doctors. I am of the age where doctors are still God."

It has also emerged that a woman in her 80s died after being visited by Ubani on the same day as the other two cases. Ubani was called after the woman suffered low blood pressure and a fast heart rate at a care home in Ely, Cambridgeshire.

Ubani reportedly left a prescription but the woman died before staff at the home could get it filled. Police and medical experts concluded that the woman would still, most probably, have died but in all three cases it would have been more appropriate if the patients had been sent to hospital immediately.

The Guardian revealed how Ubani had been on his first UK shift and admitted in a letter of apology to Gray's family that he had been "too tired" to concentrate when he visited Gray in a Cambridgeshire village, Manea, and administered him 100mg of diamorphine, 10 times the normal recommended maximum dose. The case has prompted an investigation by the NHS watchdog, the Care Quality Commission.

Ubani, who flew over from Germany the day before his shift, was self-employed, recruited by an agency called Cimarron, and inducted and assessed by Take Care Now (TCN), the day before his first shift.

The woman has a medical condition called temporal artertitis, an inflammatory disease of blood vessels in the head. Ubani gave her a drug, but after her family became concerned she was taken to hospital and admitted for two days. There were concerns about her treatment but the police did not open a separate inquiry.

The woman was taken ill on the afternoon of 16 February 2008, suffering a headache. She was upstairs in bed when Ubani arrived after her partner and daughter had called the out-of-hours service.

"I felt terrible … your head is exploding in pain. He took my blood pressure and said it was too high. He injected me with this drug and said it would help bring my blood pressure down, which was the reason for my headache. I felt better for a couple of hours but ended up in hospital."

She had been taken there by ambulance after the family raised the alarm and stayed there two days. "The only thing I really remember was there was a problem with the language. I felt Dr Ubani did not speak good English, which doesn't help when you are lying in bed going gaga."

TCN has said its response to the accidental killing of David Gray "has been focused on doing everything we can to ensure such a tragedy could never happen again". When approached to respond to aspects of the woman patient's treatment it said it could not comment on aspects of the investigation concerning Ubani because these might emerge in evidence in any civil action Gray's family might take, or at a coroner's inquest. The Guardian tried to contact Ubani at his surgery in Germany to ask him about the second patient but got no reply.

The case, which has prompted an investigation into out-of-hours services. It came as health services in Cambridgeshire sought to reassure the public. NHS Cambridgeshire has insisted the incident involving Gray was "not a true representation of the quality of care provided by our healthcare professionals 24 hours a day, every day".

Chris Banks, chief executive, said: "The actions of one doctor should not deter anyone from seeking appropriate care. It is important that people do not feel concerned about seeking advice outside of normal surgery hours."

MPs familiar with the Gray case welcomed the inquiry, while Eurojust, the Hague-based European body that mediates between justice systems in member states, confirmed it was trying to set up a meeting between the UK and Germany into how the investigation was handled.

The doctor has been given a nine-month suspended jail term and fined €5,000 (£4,700) by a German court for causing death by negligence. The Department of Health said it was "very disappointed" Ubani was not held to account in the UK.

The scope of the NHS inquiry has not yet been announced but the commission said was "aware of a number of concerns" in relation to care provided by TCN.

Woman scammed by internet suitor

Woman scammed by internet suitor
AN Adelaide woman has been duped into sending more than $30,000 to a Nigerian suitor she met on the internet.

The 30-year-old woman had registered with a dating agency that provided a chat room facility over the net, police said.

As a result she made contact and befriended the Nigerian who encouraged her to send him money so that he could visit her in Australia.

"The woman was keen to forge a relationship with the man and, as a result, has been dispatching money via a mailing company to him," a police spokesman said.

"Unfortunately the woman reported she has lost in excess of $30,000 and it has left her in shock and very upset at being victimised in this way."

Police said the man had been very organised in his approach, supplying photos of himself and other contact details of his staff and associates in a bid to prove his integrity.

They said the woman reported that a friend had fallen victim to an identical scam.

"This is a reminder to anyone using a computer and visiting any website," a police spokesman said.

"Please be very careful and never send money to any person or organisation unless you are 100 per cent certain it is authent