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U.S. Court Sentences Nigerian Brothers To 18 Years In Prison For Sextortion

Published

1 year ago

September 5, 2024

U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten have sentenced Nigerian brothers, Samuel Ogoshi, age 24, and Samson Ogoshi, age 21 to 210 months in federal prison followed by 5 years of supervised release for the crime of Conspiracy to Sexually Exploit Minors.

On March 25, 2022, 17-year-old high school student, Jordan DeMay, from Marquette, Michigan, died as a result of this sextortion scheme, which targeted over 100 other victims, as well.

“Today’s sentencing of Samuel and Samson Ogoshi sends a thundering message,” said U.S. Attorney Mark Totten. “To criminals who commit these schemes: you are not immune from justice. We will track you down and hold you accountable, even if we have to go half-way around the world to do so. The day when you could commit these crimes, rake in easy cash, destroy lives, and escape justice is gone.” Totten continued: “And to parents, teenagers, and everyone who uses a cell phone: please, please be careful. These devices can connect you to criminal networks around the world. Don’t assume people are who they say they are. Don’t share compromising images. And if you’re a victim, please reach out. There’s help, and law enforcement stands ready.

“These defendants sexually exploited and extorted more than 100 victims, including at least eleven minors, resulting in the tragic death of a 17- year-old high school student,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “These sentences should serve as a warning that the perpetrators of online sexual exploitation and extortion cannot escape accountability for their heinous crimes by hiding behind their phones and computers. The Justice Department will find them, no matter where they are, and we will bring them to justice in the United States.”

As contained in their plea agreements, Samuel and Samson Ogoshi engaged in a scheme while living in Nigeria to sexually exploit more than 100 victims, including at least 11 identified minor victims. They purchased hacked social media accounts and used them to pose as young women, making fake profiles and using the messaging feature on the social media accounts to contact victims.

Headline

Serbia Indicts Ex-minister, 12 Others Over Train Station Tragedy

Published

8 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Serbian prosecutors filed an updated indictment on Tuesday against 13 people, including a former minister, over a fatal railway station roof collapse that has triggered a wave of anti-government protests.

The prosecution said all those indicted, among them former construction minister Goran Vesic, face charges of “serious crimes against public safety” over the tragedy that killed 16 people last November.

“The indictment proposes that the Higher Court in Novi Sad order custody for all the defendants,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The roof collapse at the newly renovated station in Serbia’s second-largest city, Novi Sad, became a symbol of entrenched corruption and sparked almost daily protests.

Protesters first demanded a transparent investigation, but their calls soon escalated into demands for early elections.

The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad initially filed an indictment at the end of December, but judges returned it in April, requesting more information.

The accused were released or placed under house arrest following the decision.

The prosecutor’s office said it had complied with the judge’s request and had now completed the supplementary investigation.

The prosecutor specialising in organised crime and corruption in Belgrade is leading a separate, independent investigation into the tragedy.

That investigation is focused on 13 people, including Vesic and another former minister, Tomislav Momirovic, who headed the Construction Ministry before him.

In March, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) launched a third, separate investigation into the possible misuse of EU funds for the station’s reconstruction.

AFP

Headline

Kazakhstan Bans Forced Marriage, Bride Kidnapping

Published

8 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Kazakhstan has banned forced marriages and bride kidnappings through a law that came into effect Tuesday in the Central Asian country, where the practice persists despite new attention being paid to women’s rights.

Forcing someone to marry is now punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Kazakh police said in a statement.

“These changes are aimed at preventing forced marriages and protecting vulnerable categories of citizens, especially women and adolescents,” it added.

Bride kidnappings have also been outlawed.

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“Previously, a person who voluntarily released a kidnapped person could expect to be released from criminal liability. Now this possibility has been eliminated,” the police said.

There are no reliable statistics of forced marriage cases across the country, with no separate article in the criminal code prohibiting it until now.

A Kazakh lawmaker said earlier this year that the police had received 214 such complaints over the past three years.

The custom is also present in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, where it mostly goes unpunished due to indifferent law enforcement and stigma surrounding whistleblowers.

The issue of women’s rights in Kazakhstan gained media attention in 2023 following the murder of a woman by her husband, a former minister, a case that shocked Kazakh society and prompted President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to react.

“Some people hide behind so-called traditions and try to impose the practice of wife stealing. This blatant obscurantism cannot be justified,” Tokayev said last year.

AFP

Headline

Russia Arrests Woman For Detonating Bomb On Railway

Published

8 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Russia’s FSB security service said on Tuesday it had arrested a woman in her fifties accused of detonating explosives in a bid to sabotage the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The suspect was allegedly working on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence, the FSB said, in the latest incident of alleged covert activity during the countries’ conflict.

“In August 2025, following the instructions provided by the adversary, the suspect manufactured a homemade explosive device from publicly available components, placed it on the railway tracks and triggered it,” the Russian agency said.

“She recorded the moment of the explosion on her mobile phone camera and sent the footage as a report to the handler to receive a reward.”

The statement did not name the suspect but said she was born in 1974 and carried out the alleged attack in eastern Siberia’s Zabaikalsky region.

The FSB warned Russians that it was monitoring social networks and online messenger services such as Telegram and WhatsApp for evidence of Ukrainian services recruiting Russians to carry out sabotage.

Separately, the agency told state news agency TASS that a man had been sentenced to 18 years and six months for transporting explosives on behalf of a “pro-Ukrainian” group.

A resident of the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, had, the FSB said, established contact through the Telegram app with a banned “terrorist organisation”.

He allegedly retrieved explosives from a cache on the orders of this group before waiting for “further instructions”, according to the same source cited by TASS.

He was jailed by a military tribunal.

AFP