News

Police arrest 63-year-old for defiling 2 minors in Plateau community

Published

3 years ago

September 5, 2023

vicky

The Plateau State Police Command paraded a 63-year-old man on Monday for allegedly defiling two minors, aged 4 and 8 years, in Mabel Village, Butura Ward of Bokkos Local Government Area (LGA) in the state. This incident was part of a series of criminal cases reported by the police during the press briefing at the Command’s Headquarters in Jos, the state capital.

The Police also paraded 25 others for crimes ranging from culpable homicide, rape, kidnapping, and vandalism among other crimes.

According to the Commissioner of Police in Plateau State, Julius Alawari, the incident occurred on August 22, 2023, when Lucky Luka reported that his two daughters, Retyit Lucky (4 years) and Loveth Nehemiah (8 years), had been playing at the residence of a 63-year-old man named John Mahanan in the same village. The girls alleged that John Mahanan deceived and sexually assaulted them.

He said “On receipt of the complaint, the suspect was immediately arrested by the DPO, SP Agu Oliver C and team.

“Both the suspect and the victims were taken to the Cottage Hospital for medical examination where it was revealed that the 4 years old girl had an abrasion on her upper thigh and blood stained Vulva with a Turn Hymen, while there was proof of penetration in the vagina of the 8-year-old by the penis of the suspect.

The CP, however, said that an investigation is still ongoing.

In addition to the defilement case, the Commissioner of Police also highlighted the arrest of a suspect linked to the kidnapping of seven University of Jos students that occurred on June 12, 2023.

Alawari said, “It will be recalled that on 12th June 2023, at about 22:00 hours, seven students of the University of Jos were kidnapped.

“The Command is pleased to inform you that one of the suspects, Salisu Adamu, 30 years, of Minta village; Bassa LGA has been arrested in connection with the kidnap.

“Further investigation conducted by the Commander, Anti-Kidnapping Unit revealed that the suspect is an escapee of the recent Jos Prison Jailbreak of 2020.

The CP added that, Adamu confessed to his involvement and provided information about other gang members who are currently on the run. Police efforts are focused on capturing these fleeing suspects.

Speaking further the CP said, “Credible intelligence also led to the arrest of two notorious and wanted criminals.

“The criminals were eventually trailed and arrested by the DPO “A” division CSP Obinna S. Okpuru and team at their hideout in Angwan Mata, Jos.

“The suspects include; one Shammah Emmanuel aka (Hitman) aged 20 and one Joseph Seth aka (Small Seth) aged 19, all male of Angwan Mata, Gada-Biu.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects belong to ferocious syndicates terrorizing the Gada-Biu and Rukuba Road axis in Jos North LGA, and specialize in robbing unsuspecting victims of their phones and other valuable items at gunpoint”, he explained.

“Exhibits recovered from the suspects include one locally made revolver pistol.

“Investigation is still ongoing, and further developments will be communicated to you in due course”, he maintained.

News

New leaders, new fund: Sequoia has raised $7B to expand its AI bets

Published

1 hour ago

April 17, 2026

Preport

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Few venture firms have bet more aggressively on AI than Sequoia Capital, and it isn’t slowing down.

The Silicon Valley stalwart has raised roughly $7 billion for a new fund, according to Bloomberg. Sequoia declined TechCrunch’s request for comment. The money will go toward what the firm calls its “expansion strategy” — essentially its late-stage investing arm, focused on the U.S. and Europe — and it’s nearly double Sequoia’s last comparable fund, a $3.4 billion vehicle raised in 2022.

That growth in fund size reflects something bigger: late-stage investing has taken on an entirely new meaning in the AI era. Companies can now scale at a speed and cost that would have been unimaginable a decade ago, and the firms backing them have to keep pace.

The money signals where Sequoia sees the future: deeply embedded in AI, from the giants building the underlying technology to the startups putting it to work. The firm has backed two of the most prominent players in the AI race — OpenAI originally and, more recently, Anthropic — both of which are reportedly eyeing public listings in 2026. The development that could mean a significant payday for the firm.

Sequoia isn’t only swinging for the foundational AI heavyweights, however. It has also placed bets on other buzzy startups, including Physical Intelligence, the Bay Area robotics startup, and Factory, which builds AI agents for enterprise engineering teams.

The fundraise is also the first major capital raise under Sequoia’s new leadership, with Alfred Lin and Pat Grady now serving as co-stewards of the 54-year-old firm.

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Factory hits $1.5B valuation to build AI coding for enterprises

Published

5 hours ago

April 17, 2026

Preport

More than three years after the emergence of generative AI, AI-assisted coding remains by far the most popular and lucrative use case for the technology.

Although multiple companies — including Anthropic, maker of Claude Code, as well as Cursor and Cognition — are already vying for dominance, investors believe there is room for at least one more player.

On Wednesday, Factory, a startup developing AI agents for enterprise engineering teams, announced it had raised $150 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, and Blackstone. Keith Rabois, a managing director at Khosla Ventures, joined the startup’s board.

Factory founder Matan Grinberg told the Wall Street Journal that the company’s key differentiator is its ability to switch between different foundation models, such as Anthropic’s Claude or Chinese AI startup DeepSeek. However, startups like Cursor also don’t rely on a single model to generate code.

Factory’s customers include engineering teams at Morgan Stanley, Ernst & Young, and Palo Alto Networks.

The startup was founded in 2023 after Grinberg, then a PhD student at UC Berkeley, cold-emailed Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire. The two bonded over mutual academic interest. (Maguire’s PhD from Caltech is in the same area of physics Grinberg was studying.)

Maguire convinced Grinberg to drop out and launch Factory, with Sequoia backing the startup at the seed stage.

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