Loyalists of the notorious bandit leader Bello Turji have reportedly relocated to a new hideout in the Garsa/Kadanya area of Bayanruwa, within Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
According to intelligence sources, available to Zagazola Makama, the movements were observed between January 19 and 20, with Turji’s followers—many on motorcycles and carrying wounded members—passing through Galadi, Damaga, Rudunu, and Danbenchi en route to the new hideout.

The new location is reportedly under the control of Jummo Smally, a former rival of Turji, and has previously served as a safe haven for bandits. Some of the fleeing bandits are also believed to be moving through Rudunu, Bankamawa, and Farfaru in the Faru District, as confirmed by security operatives.

Local sources revealed that injured bandits are being treated at the Garsa/Kadanya hideout, prompting authorities to warn health workers in the area against providing medical assistance to them.

The relocation follows intensified military operations in the region, which have forced Turji and his loyalists to abandon their previous camps.

The Ondo State Police Command has apprehended a syndicate whose specialty is in child stealing and trafficking. A case of a missing child was reported at Okuta Elerin-Nla Division in Akure.

A complainant reported that a man, Samuel Adejobi (real name: Lukman Isiaka, m age , 42 years), and a woman, Ewatomi (real name: Abosede Olanipekun), came to her shop pretending to be siblings to eat, while playing with the complainant’s child, Abosede deceived her by claiming she wanted to buy biscuits for the baby.

Meanwhile, Lukman distracted the complainant by engaging her in a personal conversation and requested she followed her to Olukayode plaza in the market to get a mobile phone, on getting to the market area, he abandoned her and left, on getting back to the shop, the complainant discovered that her child was missing with no trace of Abosede the supposed sister of the man she followed to the market, thus a report was made at the Division.

Through intelligence-led policing, the suspects were traced to Ottah Village in Edo State, where they were arrested.

During interrogation, the suspects admitted to abducting the child and other children from Ondo and Osun States and selling them to one. Sabira Izuorah ‘f’ age 62 years) in Ihiala, Anambra State, at the rate of One Million Naira (₦1,000,000) per child.

Subsequently, Sabina was arrested in Ihiala and the following babies were found in her custody:
1.Baby Favour (female, 3 weeks old)
2.Baby Chidera (female, 2 weeks old)
3.Baby Chinyere (female, 2 months and 5 days old)
4.Baby Uzoma (male, 1 week old).

Also, on the 14th of January 2025, ten children sold by Mrs. Izuorah were rescued from various locations, and the following were identified by their parents:
1.Dauda Alarape (male, 3½ years)
2.Babalola David (male, 4 years)
3.Asaolu Pamilerin (7 years)
4.Ayomide Abass (male, 2 years, stolen from Orita-Obele, Akure)
5.Komolafe Oluwasekemi (female, 4 years, stolen from Igado, Ilesha)
6.Adedeji Olalekan (male, 6½ years)
7.Ahmed Abdulrasaq (male, 5½ years, stolen from Ibodi Town, Osun State)
8.Mary Wuraola (female, 2 years, stolen from Ilesha, Osun State)
9.Mubarak Akinwunmi (male, 6 years, stolen from Osogbo, Osun State)
10.Unknown child (name/parents yet to be identified, stolen from Osun State).

Some children are currently on the missing list while efforts are ongoing to locate and rescue them.

The suspects will be charged to court upon completion of the investigation

Much of the eastern half of the US will this week experience some of the coldest temperatures this winter, if not for several years

Tens of millions of residents along the East Coast are bracing for several inches of snow on Sunday followed by dangerously cold temperatures that will take hold in much of the country from the Northern Plains to the tip of Maine.

Winter storm warnings issued by the National Weather Service have already gone into effect for parts of the mid-Atlantic until Monday morning, with the forecast projecting up to half a foot (15cm) of snow. Warnings will begin in New England on Sunday afternoon, with parts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Connecticut seeing as much as 10 inches (25cm) of snow.

Marc Chenard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park Maryland, projected that as many as 70 million residents will be under some kind of winter storm hazards warning in the coming days including in New England and the mid-Atlantic. Large cities such as Philadelphia, New York and Boston could see several inches of snow this evening with the highest totals being outside major cities.

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“There will certainly be some more hazardous road conditions anywhere from DC up the whole I-95 corridor and then inland from there later today and tonight,” Chenard said. “Then it gets quite cold behind that. By Monday morning, any roads that haven’t been treated or cleared will still likely be some hazardous travel conditions.”

But the snow is just the start of a chaotic week of weather.

Much of the eastern half of the United States will be enduring some of the coldest temperatures this winter, if not for several years.

An area from the Rockies into the Northern Plains will see colder than normal temperatures starting on Sunday into the coming week, with temperatures dropping to to minus 55 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 48 degrees Celsius) on Sunday and Monday. Wind chills of minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 degrees Celsius) were already being clocked in parts of North Dakota and Minnesota. Sub-zero wind chills are forecast to reach as far south as Oklahoma and the Tennessee Valley.

The cold weather forecast for Monday for Washington prompted US president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony to be moved inside the US Capitol Rotunda.

“It’s going to be a cold day in Washington, DC on Monday. That’s for sure,” Chenard said, noting temperatures will be in the 20s with wind gust upwards of 30mph (48km/h).

As happened earlier this month, this latest cold snap comes from a disruption in the polar vortex, the ring of cold air usually trapped about the North Pole.

The cold air will moderate as it moves southward and eastward, but the Central and Eastern US will still be cold with highs in the teens and 20s Fahrenheit on Monday into Tuesday, Chenard said.

The mid-Atlantic and Northeast also will have highs in the teens and 20s, lows in the single digits and below zero degrees Fahrenheit (minus 18 degrees Celsius) and wind chills below zero.

The colder temperatures will reach down into the South early this week, where as many as 30 million people starting on Monday could see a wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain. The unusual conditions are expected to stretch from Texas into northern Florida and the Carolinas. Impacts are expected to start in Texas on Monday night and spread across the Gulf coast and Southeast on Tuesday into Wednesday.

A combination of frigid air with a low pressure system over the Gulf are behind the storm, which could bring heavy snow just south of the Interstate 20 corridor across northern Louisiana and into Mississippi and a mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain near the Interstate 10 corridor from Houston to Mobile, Alabama.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry on Saturday issued a state of emergency in advance of the wintry weather. He encouraged residents to be prepared and to monitor the weather forecast.

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