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Binance Executive’s Escape: Ex-DSS Chief Questions NSA Office, Security Agencies, Tells Incredible Story

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Dr. seyi Adetayo, a security and intelligence expert, and retired Principal Staff Officer of the Department of State Services, DSS, has described as national embarrassment the manner a Binance executive, Nadeem Anjawallala, escaped from Nigeria ahead of his trial for alleged tax evasion and economic sabotage.

INFO DAILY reports that the Binance executive was arrested alongside his colleague for tax evasion and other offences on February, and kept in the custody of the National Security Adviser to President Bola Tinubu until March 22, when he escaped from the country during a Jumat service.

Commenting on the incident during an interview with Vanguard, Adetayo said for the suspect to have escaped from the Mosque and consequently sailed through the airport easily, some insiders must have helped to plan the whole process.

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According to him, “it is purely an extraction operation carefully planned and sponsored using an intelligence asset domiciled in Nigeria, probably operated by a contract organization or a foreign government intelligence asset to remove the guy.

READ ALSO: FG Contacts INTERPOL, Begins Manhunt For Fleeing Binance Executive

“Some of the information available clearly shows that this guy wouldn’t have found it so easy to get a passport and also be able to move through our airport without being detected.

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“I have it on authority that he actually bought the ticket that he flew with at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport on that same day.

“For him to make such smooth movement, somebody must have planned it, worked out the details to ensure that the guy passed through the airport using the same name undetected; they must have checked that he was not on the watch-list; and they must also ensure an easy airline for him to use to get out of Nigeria.

“And there’s something about the airline that flew him out of Nigeria. From my experience, a lot of things used to go through that airline because the majority of the Lebanese fly through it, and there are lots of things that go on in the airport that you can just imagine.

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READ ALSO: Detained Binance Executive Drags EFCC, NSA To Court

“From the way he was able to move from the mosque easily, a vehicle probably trying to pick him up shows it is a well-planned extraction operation.”

The retired DSS chief also expressed dismay on why the Office of the NSA held the suspect in Abuja guest house rather than handing him over to the EFCC or the DSS for proper profiling and watch-listing.

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He said: “I find it very hard to believe that the Office of the NSA would keep this suspect in its custody and not transfer the suspect to agencies like the EFCC or the DSS to manage and also watch-listing the suspect immediately considering the huge and enormity of accusations against them and seeing the difficulty getting an organization like Binance. What you are asking Binance to do is very big.

“The moment they provide the information, they are breaking away from what they have assured their customers, and they are going to lose credibility, customers and revenue. When you know you are dealing with such an organisation, I expect more tact from the Office of the NSA in this regard.

READ ALSO: JUST IN: FG Slams Binance With $10 Billion Fine

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“Like others have said, this is not a call for the Office of the NSA; the office is bigger than this kind of operation and can provide all the support and give directives, but not personally, because when your agencies handle related tasks, you, as the Office of the NSA, supervise them.”

He also questioned the credibility and efficiency of security agencies by saying, “there’s something we need to actually look into which is the credibility, the efficiency of our security agencies.

“I think it’s actually going down in terms of employee productivity and the quality of personnel we have in the agency. I personally believe that even though Nadeem may not have been watch-listed, it is expected that officers at the airport should be conversant with what is going on in the country to be able to pick that name. This is not rocket science. 

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“And I am not saying something I haven’t done before. Some years ago, the government listed some people having questions to answer, and one of those people wanted to use a private jet to fly and I was on duty.”

 

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Afghanistan’s Taliban Release US Citizen

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Afghanistan’s Taliban government released an American citizen from detention on Sunday, a week after freeing an elderly British couple.

In a statement, the ministry identified the detainee as Amir Amiri and said he had been handed over to Adam Boehler, Washington’s special envoy on hostages.

Boehler made a rare visit to Kabul earlier this month to discuss the possibility of a prisoner exchange with the Taliban government.

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The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan released an American citizen named Amir Amiri from prison today,” the Foreign Ministry on X, using the official name for the government.

“The Afghan government does not view the issues of citizens from a political angle and makes it clear that ways can be found to resolve issues through diplomacy.”

READ ALSO:Taliban Detains 14 For Playing Music, Singing At Afghanistan Private Gathering

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Little is known about Amiri’s case, as it has not been widely reported.

An official with knowledge of the release said Amiri, who is 36, “had been detained in Afghanistan since December 2024”.

The official added that Amiri would stop briefly in Doha, Qatar for medical checks before continuing back to the United States.

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the release of Amiri, said he had been “wrongfully detained” in Afghanistan, and thanked Qatar for helping to get him freed.

President Donald Trump “has made it clear we will not stop until every American unjustly detained abroad is back home,” Rubio wrote on X.

In January two Americans were freed in exchange for an Afghan fighter, Khan Mohammed, who was convicted of narco-terrorism in the United States.

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READ ALSO:Taliban Court Publicly Flogs Woman For Illicit Relationship, Running Away From Home

Another American, airline mechanic George Glezmann, was freed after more than two years in detention during a March visit to Kabul by Boehler.

At least one other US citizen, Mahmood Habibi, is being held in Afghanistan. The United States is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

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The Taliban authorities deny any involvement in his 2022 disappearance.

Just a week ago, Britons Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbie, 76, were released from a Kabul prison after almost eight months in detention. The Taliban authorities did not say why they were detained.

The couple was arrested in February and first held in a maximum security facility, “then in underground cells, without daylight, before being transferred” to the intelligence services in Kabul, UN experts have said.

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READ ALSO:1.4 Million Girls Banned From Afghan Schools Since Taliban Return – UNESCO

The couple married in Kabul in 1970 and have spent almost two decades living in Afghanistan, running educational programmes for women and children. They also became Afghan citizens.

All the releases have been mediated by Qatar.

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Both the US and the UK, like many other Western nations, warn against all travel to Afghanistan.

Russia is the only country to have officially recognised the Taliban government, which has imposed a strict version of Islamic law and been accused of sweeping human rights violations.

Dozens of foreign nationals have been arrested since the group returned to power in August 2021, when most embassies withdrew their diplomatic presence.

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The Taliban government says it wants to have good relations with other countries, notably the United States, despite the 20-year war against US-led forces.

 

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One Dead, Several Injured After US Shooting, Fire At Mormon Church

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One person was killed and several others injured Sunday after a shooter targeted a Mormon church in the US state of Michigan, where the building was also set on fire, authorities said.

The suspect, a 40-year-old man from a nearby town, was shot dead by law enforcement after the attack, police said, without specifying any possible motive.

President Donald Trump called the shooting “horrendous” and said on his Truth Social platform it “appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America.”

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Images from the scene showed emergency services escorting people on stretchers and a large plume of dark smoke at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township.

READ ALSO:Head Of Mormon Church Is Dead

Local police chief William Renye told reporters the suspect drove his vehicle through the front doors of the church and then began firing at people inside with an assault rifle.

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He said the service was active with “hundreds of people within the church.”

Authorities believe the gunman also deliberately set fire to the church before he was killed by responding police officers, Renye said.

Ten gunshot victims were transported to hospital, including one who has died, the official said.

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READ ALSO:US Lifts Restrictions On Visa Validity For Ghanaians, Leaves Nigeria’s Unchanged

He added that the fire had been extinguished but that “we do believe that we will find additional victims once we have that scene secure.”

A woman who lives near the church told AFP: “My husband heard people screaming, one lady yelling for help.”

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FBI agents are on the scene to assist the investigation, chief Kash Patel said on X.

Violence in a place of worship is a cowardly and criminal act. Our prayers are with the victims and their families during this terrible tragedy,” he wrote.

Attorney General Pam Bondi also said she had been briefed on the incident.

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Head Of Mormon Church Is Dead

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Russell Nelson, who headed the Mormon church since 2018, died on Saturday night at age 101, the church announced.

“With sorrow we announce that Russell M. Nelson, beloved President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, passed away peacefully… at his home in Salt Lake City,” it said in a statement, using the church’s official name.

The former heart surgeon was “the oldest president in the history of the Church,” the statement added, without specifying a cause of death.

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Utah Republican senator Mike Lee lauded Nelson as a “bold, visionary leader prepared by God to testify of Jesus Christ in the very times in which we now live.”

READ ALSO:Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Is Dead

Nelson became the 17th president of the Church in January 2018 at age 93, succeeding Thomas Monson.

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Before becoming president, Nelson successfully pushed for the church to label same-sex married couples as “apostates” and bar their children under the age of 18 from religious rites, including baptisms — though that policy was scrapped after he took on the role.

He also broke with his predecessors and cautioned against using shorthands “LDS” or “Mormons” to refer to the church.

Nelson’s successor will be chosen after his funeral by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who like the church’s president are considered prophets by believers.

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READ ALSO:Brazilian Jazz Legend, Hermeto Pascoal, Is Dead

The religious leader is survived by his wife, eight of his children, 57 grandchildren and more than 167 great-grandchildren, according to the church.

Founded in 1830, the Mormon church considers itself a Christian body, but bases its doctrines on the Book of Mormon, a text purporting to contain a fuller version of the words of Jesus Christ than that recorded in the Bible.

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims a total membership of more than 17.5 million people.

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