Nigerian Held For Robbing For New York Banks

A 53-year-old Nigerian, Abdullahi Shuaibu, has been arrested by the New York Police for allegedly robbing four Manhattan banks.

 

The four banks are located at United Nations headquarters on First Avenue, near E. 42nd Street, where the suspect worked

Shuaibu, who was apprehended on Monday, was said to have committed the crime within two months during his launch hours, when he was allowed to leave his workplace.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria reports, authorities were led to the suspect after a retired police officer, who works at the UN, recognised him from a surveillance image previously released by the police,

In the first robbery, Shuaibu reportedly walked into a Santander Bank on Madison Avenue, near E. 43rd Street on February 27 and told the teller he had a gun. The bank employee was said to have complied and handed him an unknown sum of money.

He hit two more banks in March, first striking out at a Bank of America on Third Avenue near E. 47th Street.

He also succeeded in robbing a Santander Bank on Third Avenue and E. 63rd Street on March 27.

On Monday, when he met his Waterloo, Shuaibu was said to have walked into an HSBC on Third Avenue and E. 40th Street. around 2.30pm and passed a note demanding cash to the teller.

The teller did not read the note and asked him for identification.

He, however, instructed the teller to read the note, keeping his hand in his jacket pocket while simulating a gun, police said.

Police arrested him later in the day when he returned to the UN.

Shuaibu was an employee of the News Agency of Nigeria and served as its UN correspondent between 2006 and 2009.

The agency, however, terminated his appointment in April 2013 following his refusal to resume work in Nigeria at the expiration of his duty and an extended period which he requested to enable him to complete an academic programme.

A UN spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, denied that Shuaibu was a worker of the organisation.

Dujarric said, "Contrary to what was reported, the suspect, Abdullahi Shuaibu, is not an employee of the United Nations nor is he an accredited journalist to the United Nations nor was he arrested at the United Nations.

"Until 2010, he was a resident correspondent representing the News Agency of Nigeria."

 

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10 Most Weird Looking Cars Ever Made

The cars that everyday people see and drive look very similar to each other. A bulky box on four wheels is exactly what most of us get. But if you love cars which are out of ordinary, few cars of this list might be your dream. These 10 cars certainly broke all the molds. Have a look at some of the most weird looking cars ever made.

10. Norman Timbs Special

Norman E. Timbs was an influential engineer during 1940s who worked with Tucker automobiles. At that time, he took a project in his hands that would take over 3 years to get completed. The target was to build a vehicle which would be later known as Norman Timbs special.

This car is one of the more elegant, streamlined and swooping custom cars ever created. The long front nose and slimmed down design without doors of any kind, make it one of most weird looking cars ever created.

9. Stout Scarab

Stout Scarab was designed by William Bushnell Stout in 1932. Marked as the world’s first minivan, this traveling vehicle was envisioned by its creator to be an office on wheels. Unlike other cars of that era, Stout Scarab features a small nose and a long wheelbase to maximize the accessible space. But, this weird yet amazing vehicle didn’t go to mass production, only about a dozen cars were made and up to five Scarabs are reported to survive today.

8. Bugatti Type 57s Aérolithe

Today when we hear the name Bugatti, immediately a supercar like Veyron comes in our mind. But the company have manufactured hundreds of different car models and some of them can easily be considered weird looking, as in the case of Bugatti type 57s. They made several cars with the name “Type 57”, such as 57t, 57c and 57c tank, but this incarnation named 57s Aérolithe was the most outlandish among all of them.

7. General Motors Le Sabre

The GM LeSabre was the concept car that was revealed in 1951. The design was inspired by aircraft, and elements like the wrap-around windshield and tail fins, are the good manifestations of the inspiration behind it. However, the car wasn’t that weird in 1951, in fact design like this became quite common in automobile during the second half of the decade, but the world is not the same today. Today we can easily claim this car to be one of the most weird looking cars.

6. 1932 Ford Speedster

The unusual look of this speedster from Ford himself makes it one of a kind, which is why it was Sold for $770,000 at 2016 RM Auctions. The Speedster was given a downward, unconventionally pointed, split-post windscreen. Even at the time of release the design didn’t make sense to anybody, and today it is one of the most weird looking cars ever created.

5. Peel P50

We must admit that this car is kinda cute. The Peel P50 was a three-wheeled micro-car which was originally manufactured by Peel company from 1962 to 1965. It holds Guinness World Records of the smallest production car ever made. But we think it is also one of the most weird looking cars ever designed.

4. 1948 Tasco

Tasco is one of the oddest vehicle human brain has come up. There are plenty of people who still love it, but they are hardcore lovers of classic cars. However, for the rest of us Tasco is a weird looking vehicle.

Tasco was a prototype for a post-WWII American sports car and featured airplane inspired controls, designed by Gordon Buehrig, it was also the first car in the world with a T-top roof.

3. General Motors Firebird I, II and III

The Firebird cars were prototype cars built by General Motors, which were primarily designed to showcase in 1953, 1956, and 1959 Motorama auto shows. All the three cars was clearly inspired by a jet plane. And every car they built was the weirder than the last.

2. 1955 Chrysler (Ghia) Streamline X “Gilda”

Some of might say that this is a coolest car ever made, but, we say it is the weirdest vehicle ever created. This car seems to be inspired by some kind of spaceship, and one can tell that there must have a wacky inspiration behind. However, developers of the car designed it to achieve better aerodynamics. But the design never caught up, hence, this car landed on this list as one of the weirdest cars of all time.

1. Ferrari 512S Modulo

No, this isn’t any kind of joke, this is an actual Ferrari, a concept car designed by Paolo Martin and unveiled at the 1970 Geneva Motor Show. We have to admit that This car looks very much similar to a spaceship from a cheap science fiction movie. Doesn’t matter from which angle you look at this vehicle, it would still be the weirdest looking car ever made.

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10 Bizarre Crime For Money That Shocked The World

Greed leads many people to commit absurd crimes. Some of them think small, like the man that swallowed a ring. Some of them think big, like the one that even sold the Statue of Liberty! Here’s a list of some most bizarre crimes for money.

10 Bizarre Crimes That Shocked The World

10. The fake doctor and the homemade implant

Johnson, from Miami, was unhappy about her appearance. So she decided to have surgery to get a bigger bottom.

She was one of the victims of Oneal Ron Morris, a fake doctor who charged only $700 for the procedure.

Not long later, Nathalie started suffering the severe consequences. She developed pain throughout her body. After heading to the hospital, where she found out that the injection contained a mixture of cement, mineral oil, tyre inflator and sealant.

Morris was eventually arrested in March 2011. And has been charged with practicing medicine without a license.

9. In a box with snakes

Murdering a spouse for the insurance is a known strategy. And usually, the widow is the first suspect. Yet, Raymond “Rattlesnake”, also known as Robert S. James was able to do it more than once!

He was a barber in Los Angeles during the 30s. And during that time, he was married to Mary Busch. Due to an unwanted pregnancy, they decided to have an abortion. Robert persuaded a friend to pose as a doctor, and both told the woman to stick her feet in a box with two rattlesnakes. Saying it was an abortion method, and that it wouldn’t cause any pain, they convinced Mary. But she didn’t die. So Robert drowned her in the bath, then dragged the woman to a lily pond, with her face down the water, to be discovered the next day.

The two man split the $14,000 from the insurance. Police thought Mary’s death was an accident, until Robert got arrested for a different crime. Then they discovered he committed similar crimes, and the two other victims were his first wife and his nephew. He was executed by hanging, and it took him over 10 minutes to die.

8. Such a stud!

During the 80s, the Irish Shergar became a celebrity. Of course, he was a stud… Really, he was literally a horse. A race horse. But he won so many contests, and made $600,000 in 5 years.

But in 1983, Shergar was kidnaped. Although it was offered millions for the super horse, there was no deal, and he was never to be seen again.

Its believed that IRA was involved, and the goal of the crime was to get money for armed battle.

7. Can I bring the family?

An Irish, Thomas Blood, had already been a colonel by the time he started his crime life. He decided to steal the Crown Jewels, which were kept in the Tower of London. The Keeper of the Jewels was Talbot Edwards who lived with his family on the floor above the basement.

One day, Blood disguised as a ‘parson’ went to see the Crown Jewels and started to be friends with Edwards. Blood convinced the old man to let his family visit to see the Crown Jewels. Needless to say, the “family” were actually accomplices. After being knocked with a mallet and stabbed with a sword, Edwards was unconscious, while Blood and his “family” took all they could.

It didn’t last long. They got caught and then exiled in Ireland. Pretty lucky, no?

6. Brazil Chainsaw Massacre

Former colonel of Acre State Military Police and Brazilian politician, Hidebrando Pascoal, was convicted in 2006 for drug trafficking, leading a death squad, kidnapping, torture, attempt of murder and electoral corruption.

However, during the investigation, most of the witnesses were assassinated, including a former accomplice of Hildebrando; he was found dismembered with his eyes torn out. Another witness was kidnapped with his two sons, tortured, and then killed. Others were killed and then dissolved in acid.

His sentence was to serve 18.5 years, but with cases still pending, he could face more than 100 years.

5. Statue of Liberty for sale

George C. Parker was great at selling things. So good that he even sold things he didn’t have! He sold landmarks of his country to native buyers during the 20s. One of his “products” was The Brooklyn Bridge, that was sold many times by him.

Parker even sold the Statue of Liberty, the Madison Square Garden, and Metropolitan Museum of Art (with the works of art included). However, his scam wasn’t perfect. He got arrested 3 times for fraud, and the last one got a life time sentence.

Parker spent his last years in prison, telling everyone his stories from his time as con man. At least those were true.

4. Elderly robs a bank in a wheelchair

Peter Barry Lawrence, a 71 year old man from California robbed a bank in 2008 and made his getaway in a wheelchair! He took only $2,000.

to prison for the medical care.

The elderly faces up to 35 years to life in state prison. He also admitted he has two prior convictions for bank robberies in the late 1990s. He didn’t use a wheelchair in those.

3. Robbed by blondes

In 2008, a man from Florida clains he was robbed by half naked women.

Olmer Morales said he was riding his bicycle, when he was stopped by five blondes, in overalls, with no shirt or bra. The gang took $100 from his pockets.

No arrests have been made, since the police couldn’t find anyone matching Morales’ descriptions. Hard to say if he was lucky or not!

2. Santa Claus robbed a bank

It was in 1927 in Texas, around noon. The customers and employees from First National Bank got an unusual visit: Santa Claus!

He brought three friends, that were not elves or reindeers. They were actually grown men. Two of there were ex-cons… Yes, it was a robbery.

The “Santa” was actually Marshall Ratliff, and since he was well known there, he decided to commit the crime in disguise.

The problem is: his Santa costume attracted a lot of kids, that followed him and his accomplices all the way to the bank. At the bank, he did not respond to the greetings directed at Santa, and the other three drew their guns. While the others covered the customers and employees, Ratliff grabbed money from the tellers and forced one to open the vault.

The police was warned, but they escaped. Eventually the gang got caught, and in 1928 Ratliff got convicted. He was recognized by a witness, 10 year old Emma May Robinson. At least for him, Emma wasn’t a good kid that year. No presents for her.

1. The ring has been through a lot

In 2006, before proposing to his girlfriend, Simon Hopper went to a fancy jewelry store in Dorchester, and asked to see a $3,500 diamond ring. Sadly, the price didn’t fit his budget. So decided he needed to find his own way to get the ring.

Hopper asked to see more rings, so when the jeweler Fred Burgess turned his back, them groom swallowed the and was promptly arrested by police for the attempted theft.

Hopper had been looking at rings with jeweler Fred Burgess, when he allegedly swallowed the ring while the other man’s back was turned. When Burgess asked where the ring was, Hopper said he had already returned it to him.

Suspicious, Burgess called the police, that used a metal detector to find the ring. He got arrested, and spend 12 weeks in jail.

The worst part for him and the police? They had to wait 3 days for the ring to be naturally returned.

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10 Most Corrupt Nations in the World Today

How corrupt is your country? Transparency International (TI) has devised a Corruption Perception Index (CPI) that since 1996, has been ranking countries on an annual basis with respect to corruption. It defines corruption generally as “the misuse of public power for private benefit”. CPI currently ranks 168 countries on a scale from 0 to 100 with 0 being the most corrupt and 100 being most clean.

The vice of lust, greed and power-hungry nature can exist anywhere- even in the most unusual places like cornerstone.com where even CEO Stork built his office out of glass even though birds can’t see glass because he called it a “power move”. These feelings are more dominant in the nature of human beings that govern countries and occupy places of authority.

In the most recent CPI report, it has been stated that even when there are laws against corruption, they are ignored or skirted. People face situations of bribery and or extortion where they have to forego the rules.

As Ranked by Transparency International’s report, these are the most corrupt nations in the world today.

10 Most Corrupt Nations in the World 2017

10. Somalia

The top exports of Somalia are charcoal, livestock, bananas and scrap metal. Somalia had a very promising future before core countries of the world decided to intervene in its economic future and cause a disruption. It is now a hyperinflationary economy with uncertainty and instability being the primary reasons for lack of foreign investment.

9. South Sudan

The primary export of South Sudan is crude oil. The main types of corruption in Sudan are embezzlement, police corruption and involve public financial management and extractives. It had been predicted to attain self reliance after the freedom but it plunged into civil war leading to international isolationism. Its rulers control virtually every part of the country’s economy thus hindering what could have been a very functional state. Rumor has it that it is the Western forces that are responsible for the civil war in the country.

8. North Korea

The country mainly exports oil, textile, coal and ore. It is widespread in the country, in fact North Korea stands at the 175th place in the most corrupt countries out of 177 from the bottom upwards. The regime implements draconian punishments to exert its control and information to foreign media is controlled usually by offering bribes to policemen. Radio and TV access is also modified according to the regime’s interests. The North Korean government is allegedly involved in extortion, sale of drugs, sale of counterfeit goods and human and arms trafficking. The proceedings of these activities are used to develop the country’s nuclear arms and other weapons. It appears to be a Hollywood show coming to life!

7. Syria

Syria mainly exports crude oil, petroleum products and minerals. ISIS has been raiding Syrian museums and heritage sites in order to sell the artefacts in the international market. The buyers are both legal and illegal. The Syrian government buys oil and electricity from the ISIS and rebel controlled areas and the money that the latter gets in return is used against the very government that is buying the commodities. The Syrian government officially abides by the 1997 agreement against the use of chemical weapons but has been allegedly using these weapons against its own civilians although the government denies it. Credible sources say that the Syrian regime has chemical weapons stored at around 95 sites in the country and it is like a chemical weapon depot.

6. Yemen

Yemen is the poorest of the Middle Eastern countries and possibly that is why it is also the most corrupt. Poverty makes the masses do horrible things as people simply can’t see their kids dying of hunger. In Yemen, women literally have to choose between their kids, deciding which one gets food and which one dies of starvation. Corruption is so prevalent in the society that citizens feel helpless. Bribery and petty corruption alongside nepotism and corruption in the military are common problems in the country. Under Ali Abdullah Saleh from 1990 to 2012, the country observed record corruption of the kinds mentioned.

5. Sudan

It exports gold, coal, Arabic gum, livestock and oil majorly. The country is one of the most corrupt nations in the world occupying 177th place out of 183 in total. The reasons for corruption are lack of government regulation, lack of accountability, widespread instability in politics, low score in rule of law and in government’s effectiveness. There is heavy foreign investment in the sectors of construction and transportation but it is commonly known that there is a lot of corruption in these areas as well. Possible reasons are lack of accountability and control f the regime.

4. Libya

Corruption represents a significant obstacle for companies that want to do business in Libya. It has the largest oil reserves in Africa and one of the largest in the world. The economy is based on oil and it constitutes 70% of GDP and approximately 90% of the government’s revenue. State owned businesses dominate the local market and companies struggle with unfair competition as bribery and favouritism are common in the country. There was rampant corruption during the rule of Gaddafi and the situation only worsened after the revolution. The Arab Spring did not show the expected results in any of the countries that underwent the revolt in 2011. The law enforcement in the country is a very weak department after the revolution. The constitution is still in the process of being written and law and order situation remains abysmal as of now.

3. Afghanistan

As we move towards South Asian peripheral countries, the exports shift from mechanized and specialized products to handmade and natural ingredients mostly involving artefacts and raw material. Afghanistan exports carpets, medicinal herbs and dried fruit. Corruption is consistently singled out as a standing problem in Afghanistan by the local population itself. The primary reason behind prevalent and widespread corruption is the high instability in the area. The regime was never stable or strong enough to devise a proper structure of governance as Afghanistan plunged into one war after another for decades in a row. One of the recent major scandals in the country was the Kabul bank scandal involving the President of Afghanistan and his lavish lifestyle.

2. Guinea-Bissau

According to the Heritage Foundation, corruption is a basic characteristic of the government of Guinea-Bissau. Its ranking on the index has deteriorated since 2012. There is a prevalence of impunity and citizens of the city have no right to information. The most probable cause of widespread corruption is drug trafficking that is a norm in the country. The place is a haven and heaven for the drug lords of Columbia. There is widespread poverty and a collapse of the state in general that favours the drug business. There was some improvement between 2008 and 2011 after which a military coup brought an end to the government’s efforts to reign corruption.

1. Venezuela

Venezuela’s economy relies on oil exports which are 96% of the total exports of the country. 75% of the Venezuelans believe that there is widespread corruption in the country. It is the 13th largest producer and 10th biggest exporter of oil. A venezuelan NGO claimed that during the past 25 years, some 100 billion Dollars from oil have been misused by those in position. Drug trafficking, alleged government support of terrorist organization, bribery and nepotism are common forms of corruption in the country.

Corruption is hidden wilfully so it is impossible to measure it directly. In order to measure corruption, proxies are used by agencies like the Transparency International. Common criticisms that these agencies have to face is that corruption is too complex to be measured by one or few performance indicators. Moreover, these agencies leave out the private sector when they are accounting for corruption in the state as a whole. Transparency International has thus warned that a country with a clean CPI score may also be linked to corruption internationally. There is no country thus that can be corruption free.

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