The Department of State Services has arrested Faisal, son of the former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, and handed him over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Security sources disclosed that Faisal’s arrest followed intelligence indicating that he had secretly returned to Nigeria.

“His arrest followed credible intelligence which indicated that Faisal had secretly returned to the country,” a source said.

The source added that DSS operatives tracked and arrested him in the Karsana area of Abuja before handing him over to the EFCC.

Faisal had been on the run since 2020 after being arraigned by the EFCC on a three-count charge bordering on money laundering.

In October 2021, the Federal High Court in Abuja convicted him on money laundering charges and sentenced him to 14 years’ imprisonment.

The trial judge, Okon Abang, held that the EFCC had established that Faisal operated a fictitious bank account with the United Bank for Africa through which his father allegedly laundered N58.1m.

The court said the money was deposited into an account operated in the name of Alhaji Faisal Farm 2 and withdrawn by Faisal and his father between October 2013 and June 2019.

In November 2022, the Court of Appeal upheld Faisal’s conviction but reduced his sentence from 14 years to seven years, ruling that the trial court should not have imposed the maximum sentence on a first-time offender.

His father, Maina, served a prison sentence for laundering pension funds before his subsequent release and later troubles with the law.

The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has launched an investigation into the separation of an aircraft door involving a Challenger 604 operated by Triton.

In a statement, the Bureau said the aircraft, with registration number T7-SEI, was flying from Abuja to Lagos when its crew declared a mayday after the door separated at an altitude of 3,500 feet.

The aircraft subsequently returned to Abuja and landed safely on Runway 22. All nine persons on board, comprising three crew members and six passengers, were accounted for.

The NSIB said the separated door had been recovered and secured as investigators began work to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The Bureau said further updates would be provided as the investigation progresses.

The incident comes less than two weeks after a Nigerian Air Force ATR-42 aircraft crashed near Igbokoda in Ondo State on October 5, killing all 25 people on board. The aircraft was on a routine mission from Benin City to Lagos when it crashed in a swampy area.

The Nigerian Air Force has since set up a 12-member board to investigate the crash, while the Senate and House of Representatives have moved to examine aircraft maintenance and safety concerns.

In July, an Enugu Air aircraft also veered off the runway after landing at Benin Airport. The Embraer E170, which was flying from Lagos to Benin, had 68 people on board, all of whom survived without injuries. The NSIB launched an investigation into the incident, which it later linked in a preliminary report to several factors, including an inoperative autobrake system.

The latest incident adds to renewed attention on aviation safety and the need for thorough investigations into aircraft occurrences in Nigeria.

Five suspected members of a criminal gang accused of abducting 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members in Imo State have been arrested in a joint security operation led by the Department of State Services (DSS), in collaboration with the military, police and other security operatives.

The suspects were apprehended in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and Abia State during intelligence-led operations conducted between October 10 and 14.

Three other suspects reportedly escaped with gunshot wounds, prompting a manhunt for the fleeing members of the gang.

The arrests followed the abduction of 20 prospective corps members along the Owerri-Onitsha Expressway in Imo State on October 1, 2026, while they were travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to their assigned NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

The gunmen attacked two buses conveying the prospective corps members and other passengers near Umunoha in the Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State.

The victims were rescued on October 7 during a joint security operation at Amakohia-Ubi Village in Owerri West Local Government Area of the state. They were subsequently taken to the DSS hospital in Owerri for medical attention and necessary checks.

During the search-and-rescue operation, the police had said their operatives located the kidnappers’ camp through drone surveillance but could not immediately advance because the location was reportedly planted with improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Security agencies later intensified efforts to reach the victims and secure their release.

The latest arrests mark a development in efforts to track down those allegedly responsible for the abduction and dismantle the criminal network.

A security source described the arrests as a major relief, saying security agencies had sustained a manhunt for the suspects.