Dozens arrested in European cyber crime sweep - Europol

AMSTERDAM Police have arrested 49 suspected members of a cyber crime syndicate in Spain, Poland and Italy who are suspected of stealing million of euros from European bank accounts, Europol said on Wednesday.

Police raided 58 locations as part of the investigation into online "phishing" scams used to transfer money from bank accounts across Europe, the Hague-based European police agency said in a statement.

Officials in Belgium and the United Kingdom assisted the investigation and operation, which was conducted on Tuesday.

"The parallel investigations revealed international fraud totalling 6 million euro accumulated within a very short time," the statement said.

The suspects, mainly from Nigeria and Cameroon, transferred the illicit profits outside of the European Union through a sophisticated network of money laundering transactions.

Reuters

Cameroon prisons overcrowded with Boko Haram suspects

YAOUNDE
Cameroon officials say prisons are overcrowded with suspected Islamic extremists whose insurgency has spilled from Nigeria.

Maroua Central Prison registrar Ngeh Emmanuel said Thursday that 30,000 people have been detained in 25 prisons in Cameroon since May 2014. He says that number is up from 22,000 detained before.

Emmanuel says that more soldiers are needed to stop inmates from endless attempts to break out of jail.
Cameroon Human Rights commission chairman Che Mutta Divine Banda says prisons are crammed with six times more people than their capacity allows.

Neighboring countries increasingly have been drawn into Nigeria's 5-year Islamic uprising, which has killed thousands and driven 1.6 million people from their homes, including across borders into Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

Boko Haram has been recruiting fighters in all three countries.

Nigeria recaptures ten towns from Boko Haram, says government

Nigeria's army recaptured ten towns from Boko Haram, the government said on Thursday, gaining ground in the fight against the Islamist terrorist group.

The north-eastern towns of Gabchari, Abba Jabari, Gajigana, Gajiram, Damakar, Kumaliwa, Bosso, Wanti, Jeram and Karisungul are now back under government control, said spokesman Mike Omeri.
The military already regained control over 19 other towns in the past few weeks, according to the Omeri, whose claims could not be independently verified.

"While the Nigerian military forces are recording several victories against Boko Haram, ... efforts are being intensified by regional bodies to ensure that the scourge is permanently overcome," said Omeri.

Nigeria's army is receiving back-up in the fight against Boko Haram from a multi-national task force, made up of troops from neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

Boko Haram, which seeks to establish a caliphate based on its very strict interpretation of Islamic law, has been controlling towns in north-eastern Nigeria spread over an area the size of Belgium.

More than 13,000 people are estimated to have been killed by the insurgents since 2009.

Missing Cameroon Olympians say they were threatened

LONDON Five Cameroonian boxers who disappeared at the London Olympics said in an interview broadcast on Monday that they absconded because they had been threatened by officials in their delegation.
   The boxers, who went missing along with two other Cameroonian athletes more than a week ago, said they now wanted to stay in Britain to develop their careers.
   "We left the Olympic Village because we were threatened," boxer Blaise Yepmou Mendouo told BBC television in an interview at a secret location in London.
   Speaking in French, Yepmou Mendouo said officials had tried to confiscate some of his teammates' passports.
   He also claimed that Cameroonian officials had halved the boxers' agreed bonuses.
   "We were not happy with that," he told the broadcaster. "But we decided, the five of us, that as fighters we should fight -- because it's a matter of image."
   The BBC named the other boxers as Thomas Essomba, Christian Donfack Adjoufack, Abdon Mewoli and Serge Ambomo, and their missing teammates as swimmer Paul Ekane Edingue and female footballer Drusille Ngako.
   All seven have visas to stay in Britain until November, British Olympic officials said last week.
   Essomba told the BBC that the boxers were searching for a sponsor to help them become long-term British residents.

Samuel Eto'o close to being highest paid footballer

Inter Milan will certainly reach a deal that will

send Samuel Eto’o to Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala, a transfer that could make the Cameroon striker the highest paid footballer in the world.

Anzhi is expected to give Eto’o a three-year contract worth €20 million ($29 million) per season, eclipsing the estimated €12 million ($17.4 million) that Cristiano Ronaldo earns at Real Madrid and the €10.5 million ($15.2 million) that Lionel Messi is paid by Barcelona.

Inter was negotiating with Anzhi officials in Milan for a transfer fee between €20 and €30 million ($29 and $43 million) for the 30-year-old Eto’o.

“We’re very close. We could close today, tomorrow or next week,” Anzhi representative German Tkachenko said late Wednesday, according to the ANSA news agency.

Eto’o also met with Anzhi officials in Milan on Wednesday.

Anzhi, from the troubled southern Russian province of Dagestan, is owned by billionaire oil tycoon Suleiman Kerimov.

Anzhi’s captain is 38-year-old Roberto Carlos, once the standout left back for Brazil.

The transfer fee would also make it one of the most expensive deals this season, near the €29 million ($42 million) Barcelona paid Arsenal on Monday to bring Cesc Fabregas back to his boyhood club.

The biggest deal during this transfer window was the 38 million pounds ($62 million) Manchester City paid Atletico Madrid for Sergio Aguero last month. Also, Paris Saint-Germain paid €42 million ($60 million) to Palermo for Javier Pastore.

Three Nigerians shortlisted for CAF awards

Three Nigerians made the shortlist for the 2010 edition of the Glo Confederation of African Football (CAF) Footballer of the Year award.
Dickson Etuhu, Osaze Peter Odemwingie and Kalu Uche were the only Nigerians picked in the nominees for this year’s award.
The provisional list of Caf for the 2010 award is full of surprises, as Nigerians will be shocked to find Etuhu in the list and John Obi Mikel excluded despite the player being touted as having improved his game in recent games for Chelsea.

Explaining the rationale for the shortlist respected Caf instructor, Adegboye Onigbinde, said that every award has it criteria for nominating players.

He opined out that it should be remembered that the likes of Etuhu, Odemwingie and Kalu Uche appeared in several international matches for Nigeria in which Mikel did not.

Onigbinde used the 2010 Fifa World Cup as an example.

“You cannot win awards when you don’t play at the very big stage. Yes no doubt playing for your club is good but every award has its own criteria for picking nominees and the Caf award is no exception.

“So the players nominated for the award must have picked based on certain co-efficient like playing in the Fifa World Cup this year and also other international matches for their countries.

The absence of Mikel might be due to such lack of picking enough co-efficient to be nominated,” the former Nigerian head coach said.

However, Mikel’s Ghanaian teammate, Michael Essien, is also missing from the provisional list of 30 and his case is believed to due to the injury that kept him away from competitive football for a long period, which led to his missing the Mundial in South Africa.

Apart from Etuhu, Odemwingie and Uche in the Caf nominees, it is learnt that Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana produced five players each.

The trio of Cameroon, Egypt and Morocco has three players each like Nigeria while Algeria produced two.

Benin Republic, DR Congo, Mali, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia all have one player apiece in the Caf award’s provisional list.

Perennial nominees such as Chelsea’s Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto’o of Inter Milan and Cameroon are part of those named in the shortlist.

Other top names in the hat are Asamoah Gyan and Andre Ayew of Ghana, the Toure brothers – Kolo and Yaya and their Ivorien teammate, Salomon Kalou.

The 30-man list is expected to be trimmed to 10 by Caf’s three committees of media, technical and football