POLICE FORCED ME TO PART WITH N705, 000.00 TO REGAIN FREEDOM OVER FAKE OFFENCE, SAYS VICTIM
A victim of police brutality, Kareem Jamiu has narrated how the disbanded Inspector General of Police Special Tactical Squad, forced him to cough out the sum of N705, 000.00 to regain freedom over a trumped up offence.
Penpushing reports, that, the five erring policemen have been arrested for extortion as disclosed in a statement by the Lagos Police Command Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, adding that they will soon be made to face appropriate disciplinary actions.
The 29 year old victim while narrating his ordeal said five police officers who claimed to be from the disbanded Inspector General of Police Special Tactical Squad, allegedly accosted him close to his residence near NNPC Sagamu and accused him of being a cultist and an internet fraudster because they saw the photograph of a Caucasian lady on his phone.
“I have a lady I’m dating in America normally, and the lady has been to Nigeria before. I tried to explain to them, I know her family members and she also knows all my family members,” Jamiu said, adding that his explanation fell on deaf ears of the policemen who subsequently took him from Sagamu to a school opposite the Lagos Police Command, in Ikeja, a distance of 45 kilometres where they extorted him.
Penpushing further reports that, Jamiu said he originally agreed to give the policemen the N100, 000 they demanded before he could be set free, adding that upon searching his phone, the policemen saw he had more money left in his account and they subsequently forced him to part with N705,000.00.
The victim who confirmed that the police authority had returned the money extorted from him by the rogue officers, recalled, “they took me to the nearest filling station around the police street at ikeja state command to make use of my card for withdrawal,”
Penpushing also reports that, the Police spokesman in a statement explained that following the arrest of the rogue officers, the money was recovered from them, and as at the time of filing this report, the money had been returned to the victim.
The Lagos State Police Command image maker said the officers were arrested after Jamiu reported the extortion to the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), a civil society group who petitioned the police hierarchy to help retrieve the money.
