Crime
UK defends China actions after calls to get tough
Britain Sunday defended its measured response to an incident in Manchester when Chinese diplomats were accused of beating up a Hong Kong protester.
Anti-China hardliners in the ruling Conservative party have demanded expulsions of the diplomats involved, accusing the UK government of appeasing Beijing.
But Foreign Secretary James Cleverly insisted that it was right to await a police investigation into the Manchester incident from October, rather than acting on the basis of widely shared video.
“Our diplomatic decisions will always be based on rule of law and due process,” he told BBC television, drawing a contrast to other countries that might act without evidence.
“We will make sure our response is robust but is demonstrably based on rules,” he said, after the diplomats were accused of dragging the protester into the consulate grounds to beat him up.
Cleverly said that similarly, the government needed more evidence on reported “secret” Chinese police stations operating on UK soil.
Ireland, the Netherlands and the United States have already clamped down after reports said that China was using such outposts to spy on and intimidate its nationals overseas.
Citing Xinjiang, Hong Kong and development loans to poorer countries, Cleverly said that “we have seen some really, really inappropriate behaviour, unacceptable behaviour” from China.
But he also stressed the scope for partnership with Beijing on issues such as climate change, as the UK tries to find a more nuanced approach to the world’s second-largest economy.
A fortnight ago, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the “golden era” of relations with China was over, but that his government would pursue “robust pragmatism” in dealing with global competitors.
“China is an incredibly challenging country on the international stage,” Cleverly said, ahead of giving a speech Monday touting the need for post-Brexit Britain to look beyond its traditional allies.
When he led the country out of the European Union, then prime minister Boris Johnson touted a “Global Britain” seeking new partnerships further afield.
But the concept remains a work in progress, in trade as well as security, and Britain is meanwhile getting hammered economically with inflation running at double digits.
The UK is ready to make “investments of faith” with Latin American, Asian and African countries that were not “traditional partners” in the past, Cleverly will say, according to his office.
“The UK offer will be tailored to their needs and UK strengths, spanning trade, investment, development, defence, technology and climate change,” Cleverly is to say.
“This will be backed up with a reliable source of infrastructure investment,” he will add, as the G7 club of rich nations tries to counter China’s own debt-fuelled development aid.
“We will show strategic endurance, willing to commit for the long term.”
The Anambra State Police Command has foiled a cult initiation ceremony in Nawfia, Njikoka Local Government Area of the state.
Spokesperson for the Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday in Awka.
According to Ikenga, the operation was carried out by police operatives around 9:30am on June 15, leading to the arrest of six suspects at the scene.
Recovered during the raid were one Jojef pump action gun, two cartridges, and a golden-coloured Lexus SUV with registration number ATN 202 AE. Other items found include two cutlasses, two scissors, a cap bearing the inscription of the Supreme Vikings Confraternity, charms, and substances suspected to be hard drugs.
“They are currently undergoing police interrogation to get more insight into their modus operandi, after which the case will be charged to court on the conclusion of the investigations,” Ikenga stated.
The police spokesperson reassured residents of the command’s unwavering commitment to fighting cultism and other related crimes across the state.
An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, on Wednesday, remanded two persons, Olaitan Fasasi and Kehinde Tobiloba in a correctional facility over alleged attempted murder.
Fasasi, 40, and Tobiloba, 26, whose addresses were not provided, are being charged with conspiracy, attempted murder and membership of a secret society.
The Magistrate, Mr L.A Owolabi, did not take the plea of the defendants for want of jurisdiction.
Owolabi directed the police to forward the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution for legal advice.
He thereafter adjourned the case until May 31 for mention.
The Prosecutor, Josephine Ikhayere, told the court that the defendants committed the offences at about 5.02p.m on Feb. 15, at Mushin, Lagos.
She said that Fasasi, Tobiloba and others now at large, attempted to commit murder by shooting at a resident, Alfred Ademola.
“They armed themselves with a locally made gun. They belong to Eiye Confraternity, a group proscribed by law,”, she said.
Ikhayere said that the offences contravened Sections 230(1) and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2012.
He said that the actions of the defendants also contravened Section 2(3)(a)(b)(c)(d) of the unlawful societies and Cultism Law of Lagos State Law.
An Area Court in Jos, on Tuesday, sentenced one Jeptha John, to three months imprisonment for stealing a Redmi mobile phone valued at N165, 000.
The judge, Shawomi Bokkos, sentenced the John after he pleaded guilty to the offence.
The judge, however, gave the convict an option to pay N20, 000 fine and N50, 000 restitution to the complainant.
Bokkos said that if the convict defaulted in paying the restitution, three months should be added to his sentence to make it six months imprisonment.
Earlier, the police prosecutor, Insp Monday Dabit, told the court that the case was reported at the B Division Police Station, Jos, on Dec. 1, 2024, by Ms Nerat Danjuma.
He said that the complainant alleged that the defendant trespassed into her house and stole her mobile phone valued at N165, 000.
The prosecutor further told the court that the offence contravened the Plateau State Penal Code, Law of Northern Nigeria.
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