Helicopter crash claims Iran’s president, foreign minister, 7 others

The President Iran, Ebrahim Raisi has died after a helicopter carrying him and other officials crashed in a mountainous and forested area of the country due to poor weather on Sunday, May 19.

The helicopter, transporting Iran’s President along with the country’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, and seven other senior officials, met with disaster in the mountainous northwest region of Iran.

Iran was thrown into uncertainty on Sunday as search and rescue teams scoured a fog-shrouded mountain area after the helicopter went missing.

Fears grew for the 63-year-old ultraconservative after contact was lost with the aircraft. The supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had urged Iranians to “not worry” about the leadership of the Islamic republic, saying “there will be no disruption in the country’s work”.

“We hope that Almighty God will bring our dear president and his companions back in full health into the arms of the nation,” he said in a nationally televised address as Muslim faithful prayed for Raisi’s safe return.

More than 60 rescue teams using search dogs and drones were sent to the mountainous protected forest area of Dizmar near the town of Varzaghan. The crash site was later discovered and no survivor was found there.
The helicopter crashed weeks after Iran launched a drone-and-missile attack on Israel in response to a deadly strike on its diplomatic compound in Damascus.

Hardliner Raisi became president in a historically uncompetitive election in 2021. Previously as the chief justice, he oversaw a period of intensified repression of dissent in a nation convulsed by youth-led protests against clerical rule.

Raisi was the second-most powerful person in the Islamic Republic’s political structure after its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khomeini. The Iranian Constitution mandates that, in the case of the president’s death, the first vice president assumes office with the approval of the Supreme Leader.

Helicopter crash claims Iran’s president, foreign minister, 7 others

We’ve reduced banditry by 70% – Radda

Governor Dikko Radda of Katsina State, said his administration has reduced banditry to about 70 per cent in the last one year.

According to the Governor, this was sequel to the robust synergy between the local security outfits and the conventional security agencies across the state.

Radda, who was on a working visit to Yola, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen on Saturday.

He said, ”It is high time to have state Police included in the fight against insecurity in the country.

“We have reduced the rate of banditry to about 60 to 70 per cent. What we are witnessing now is the crazy approach by the bandits going to hard-to-reach villages close to forests, burning houses and killing people.

“We have developed strategies to fight it”, he said.

Radda further explained that most of the developing countries have state Police that secure lives and properties.

He urged governments at all levels to prioritise education for the development of the sector in Nigeria.

Radda said, ”This will give opportunity to the less privileged, to access quality education at all levels.”

We’ve reduced banditry by 70% – Radda

Police in Yobe arrest suspected transformer vandal

The Police Command in Yobe said it has arrested one Saminu Garba, 23, for allegedly vandalising transformer cable at State Low-Cost in Damaturu.

DSP Dungus Abdulkarim, spokesman of the command, stated this in a statement in Damaturu on Saturday.

He said personnel of the command arrested Garba in possession of the cable in the area on Thursday when they became suspicious of him.

Abdulkarim said investigation revealed that Garba and two members of his syndicate, Audu Ismail and Abba Mohammed, were allegedly involved in several acts of transformer vandalism in Damaturu and its environs.

The spokesman said the police were on the trail of Ismail and Mohammed, who were still at large.

He said that the state Police Commissioner, Garba Ahmed, has warned vandals to repent and desist from the act or face the wrath of the law.

Abdulkarim appealed to the public to assist the police with credible information to effectively fight crime.

Police in Yobe arrest suspected transformer vandal