Crime
Six Pupils Face Charges In Beheading Of French Teacher
The first of two trials in a case that shocked France began on Monday, with six adolescents on trial in Paris for their roles in the 2020 beheading of teacher Samuel Paty.
According to information gathered by Biztellers, the suspects entered the juvenile court behind closed doors with their jackets pulled over their faces.
In the Paris district of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, the 47-year-old history and geography teacher was stabbed, then decapitated, close to his secondary school.
His attacker, 18-year-old Chechen refugee Abdoullakh Anzorov, was shot dead at the scene by police.
The young radicalised Islamist murdered Paty after messages spread on social media that the teacher had shown his class cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed from the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Paty had used the magazine as part of an ethics class to discuss free speech laws in France, where blasphemy is legal and cartoons mocking religious figures have a long history.
His killing took place just weeks after Charlie Hebdo republished the cartoons. When the magazine first used the images in 2015, Islamic gunmen stormed its office, killing 12 people.
Last month another teacher, Dominique Bernard, was killed in Arras in northern France by a young radicalised Islamist.
Like Anzorov, Bernard’s suspected killer Mohammed Moguchkov also hailed from Russia’s mainly Muslim North Caucasus region.
– ‘Role of the minors’ –
Five of the adolescents on trial, who were 14 or 15 at the time of Paty’s murder, will be tried for criminal conspiracy with intent to cause violence.
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They are accused of having been on the lookout for Paty and identifying him to the killer in exchange for money.
A sixth teenager, who was 13 at the time, is accused of false allegations for wrongly saying that Paty had asked Muslim students to identify themselves and leave the classroom before he showed the cartoons.
A trial of eight adults also implicated in the case is scheduled for late 2024.
Paty’s family see the trial of the teenagers as crucial, according to Virginie Le Roy, a lawyer representing his parents and one of his sisters.
“The role of the minors was fundamental in the sequence of events that led to his assassination,” she said.
During questioning, the teenagers swore that at most they thought Paty would be “flagged up on social media”, “humiliated” or maybe “roughed up” but they never imagined “it would go as far as murder”.
They now are high school pupils and risk two-and-a-half years in prison.
“It is complicated,” said Dylan Slama, the lawyer for one of the accused.
“He will be associated with this for the rest of his life.”
The trial is expected to continue through December 8.
The Oyo State Police Command has arrested a suspected cultist, Kingsley Odo, who allegedly travelled to the state to avenge the death of his brother.
The suspect was intercepted by operatives of the Safer Highway patrol team during a routine stop-and-search operation on a commercial bus along Ife Road.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Oyo State Police Command, DSP Ayanlade Olushola Olayinka, said the operatives recovered a locally made, cut-to-size pistol and a cartridge during a search of the vehicle.
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Olayinka said further questioning revealed that the suspect had travelled to Oyo State to carry out a revenge killing over his brother’s death.
“Further questioning revealed that he had travelled all the way from Anambra to Oyo State to carry out a revenge killing,” he said.
He added that the suspect had been arrested and was undergoing investigation to establish his connections and determine the extent of his alleged activities.
“All thanks to God and the good effort of the men of the Safer Highway, he was intercepted, arrested, and is currently undergoing investigation to know his connections and how wide it is,” Olayinka said.
Suspect Recounts Brother’s Death
During an interview following his arrest, Odo said the incident stemmed from the death of his brother in 2021, when he was working in Benue State.
He explained that his brother was schooling in Nsukka, Enugu State, when he received information that someone had killed him.
“It was in 2021. I was working in Benue State, so I had information that my brother, who was in school in Nsukka, had just died in the school, that somebody killed him in the school,” he said.
Odo added that his mother died a few weeks after his brother’s death.
He said he subsequently received information that the person allegedly responsible for his brother’s death was living in a southwestern state.
“So, last month, I had information that the boy is living in a state, a Yoruba state. So, I said okay, I will find out that place where he is living,” the suspect said.
He explained that he was travelling from Nsukka towards Oyo State when police operatives intercepted and arrested him.
When questioned about whether he knew the exact location of the person he intended to confront, Odo initially said he did not know the particular state but confirmed that he was heading to Oyo State.
“The information is with me,” he said, suggesting that he had information that could help him locate the individual.
Suspect Says He Bought Pistol for ₦20,000
When questioned about the firearm recovered from him, Odo said he purchased the pistol from a friend for ₦20,000.
“I bought it from my friend,” he said.
Asked what his friend did with firearms, the suspect said the individual might be a hunter.
“I don’t know, maybe he’s a hunter. A hunter who kills with pistol? Yes, he has this one and long, so he was the one that sell this one for me, 20,000,” he said.
Suspect Confirms Membership of Vikings Confraternity
During the interview, Odo was also questioned about reports that his deceased brother belonged to a cult group.
He said he could not confirm whether his brother was a member.
“Maybe he belongs, maybe he did not belong, because I was not there with him,” he said.
However, when asked whether he belonged to a cult group himself, the suspect answered in the affirmative and identified the group as Vikings.
The police said investigations were ongoing to establish the suspect’s connections and determine whether other individuals were involved in the alleged planned revenge killing.
Police Rescue Three Kidnap Victims in Taraba After Sustained Pressure
The Nigeria Police Force has disclosed the rescue of three kidnapped victims in Taraba State following sustained pressure mounted by its rescue teams.
The victims were identified as Otuwe Torhumba, 37; Kenneth Nyiutse, 35; and Michael Emmanuel, 27.
The Force made the disclosure on Saturday, October 3, 2026, in its 24-hour operational update covering security operations recorded across the country on October 2.
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According to the Police, “Due to sustained pressure by Police rescue teams, three of five kidnapped victims — Otuwe Torhumba (37), Kenneth Nyiutse (35) and Michael Emmanuel (27) — were rescued unharmed and reunited with their families.”
The Police said the three victims were rescued unharmed and subsequently reunited with their families.
The Force did not provide further details on the circumstances surrounding the abduction or the whereabouts of the remaining two victims in the operational summary.
The case is currently being investigated by the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Jalingo.
The rescue was among several operational successes recorded by the Nigeria Police Force during the reporting period.
The Nigeria Police Force has disclosed the rescue of an 86-year-old man and his son after they were allegedly detained by suspected members of the Axe Men confraternity in Cross River State.
The victims, identified as Dominic Columbus Udoh, 86, and his son, Emmanuel Columbus Udoh, 40, were rescued by Police operatives on Friday, October 2, 2026.
The Police made the disclosure on Saturday, October 3, in its 24-hour operational update detailing security successes recorded across the country.
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According to the Force, Police operatives were mobilised to the scene after receiving information that suspected Axe Men confraternity cultists had unlawfully detained the two men.
The Police said the suspected cultists fled from the scene when operatives arrived.
The Force stated that officers, with assistance from neighbours, “forced open the locked apartment,” where the two victims were found.
According to the Police, both victims had sustained facial and chest injuries.
They were subsequently rescued and conveyed to the Police Hospital for medical treatment.
The Police said the incident is currently being investigated by the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Calabar.
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