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Alert

Magazine circulation manager arrested, other journalists go into hiding

(MRA/IFEX) - On 5 September 2004, one day after State Security Service (SSS) officers raided the editorial offices of the "Insider Weekly" magazine in Lagos and sealed them off, they returned to arrest the magazine's circulation manager, Cyril Mbamalu. Mbamalu was taken to the SSS Lagos State headquarters in Shangisha, on the outskirts of Lagos, and detained along with Raphael Olatoye, the magazine's production manager who was arrested during the first raid on 4 September.

On the second visit to the magazine's offices, the security officers returned to the premises at about 11:00 a.m. (local time) on 5 September. They confiscated files and all the computers and other equipment they could find.

The magazine's editor-in-chief, Osa Director, said the security agents were "on the hunt" for him and other editors of the magazine who have gone into hiding. According to Director, on 5 September, SSS officers visited the home of executive editor George Mbah, who had traveled out of Lagos two weeks prior to the incident, and questioned members of his household about his whereabouts.

Director has also fled his home as he said security agents have laid siege around his house and were still patrolling the premises as of 5:00 p.m. on 6 September.