Some yet-to-be-identified assailants have attacked the office of vigilante operatives in the Umunze community, Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State.

It was gathered that during the attack that was carried out in the early hours of Thursday, the hoodlums set about five operational vehicles and some parts of the building housing the security operatives ablaze.

An eyewitness around the scene said, “The hoodlums invaded the premises in the early hours of Thursday and started shooting indiscriminately. The matter got escalated when the security operatives, in an attempt to resist the gunmen during the gun duel recorded a fatal injury on one of the security operatives.

“About five operational vehicles were set ablaze, and some parts of the security office also got burnt by the hoodlums, who later fled the scene before the arrival of the police-led joint security force.”

When contacted on Thursday, the spokesman for the Anambra State Police Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the development and said the Police-led Joint Security Force had taken over the scene.

Sapphire Egemasi, a tech enthusiast, has been arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in connection with a large-scale fraud scheme that targeted multiple US government agencies.

Egemasi, a programmer who operates a Devpost account, was arrested around April 10, 2025, in Bronx, New York, alongside other co-conspirators, including Samuel Kwadwo Osei, who appeared to have led the syndicate.

Their arrest stems from a federal grand jury indictment filed in 2024, charging the suspects with multiple counts of internet fraud and money laundering for crimes said to have occurred between September 2021 and February 2023.

Egemasi and her Ghanaian co-defendants allegedly conspired to defraud the city of Kentucky of millions of dollars.

According to investigators, her role involved designing spoof websites impersonating official US government domains to steal login credentials and facilitate the transfer of stolen funds.

Before her arrest, Egemasi was reportedly based in Cambridge, United Kingdom, although authorities believe she previously lived in Ghana, where she likely established ties with her co-conspirators.

She allegedly served as the syndicate’s tech lead, orchestrating the creation of fake sites and overseeing wire transfers to accounts under the gang’s control.

Text message records allegedly show that in August 2022, the syndicate rerouted $965,000 stolen from Kentucky into a PNC Bank account.

In a separate transaction around the same time, $330,000 was funnelled into an account with Bank of America.

To conceal the origins of her wealth, Egemasi reportedly claimed to have held multiple roles, mostly internships, at major multinational companies, including British Petroleum, H&M, and Zara.

Egemasi, who was popularly known online as ‘tech queen’, assumed a polished digital persona, especially on LinkedIn, where she showcased her skills and “flaunted a luxurious lifestyle”.

Via her social media accounts, she posted photos of herself on lavish vacations to destinations like Greece and Portugal, which prosecutors now claim were funded, through illicit proceeds.

After the violent unrest that recently hit Rano town, the Chairman of Rano Local Government Area, Malam Naziru Yau, has appealed to the people of the area to celebrate the Eid al-Kabeer peacefully and avoid a repeat of similar unrest.

It would be recalled that a ‘wild’ celebration which was later taken to the police was the genesis of the death of a young man in police custody, and subsequent killing of a Divisional Police Officer, Baba Ali.

In a statement through the Speaker of the Rano Local Government Council, Rt. Hon. Ahmed Abdullahi Jibrin, the Chairman of the Local Government urged the people of the community to forget the past incident and go for unity, forgiveness, and love, which are the basic pillars of the Eid al-Kabir festival.

The statement which was signed by the Zonal Information Officer, Khalil Ibrahim Kura, the Chairman appealed to the youth, clergy men, traditional rulers, and all the stakeholders to be the ones to avoid any form of violence.

“Let us use this blessed period of Eid to reflect, forgive, and renew our commitment to peaceful coexistence,”Mal.Naziru Ya’u added.

“I appeal to our youth, religious leaders, traditional rulers, and all stakeholders to ensure that the upcoming celebration is free of violence and disorder.”