Two Police Officers Arrested, Detained For Extortion In Rivers

The Rivers State command of the Nigeria Police Force has arrested two of its personnel over alleged extortion of citizens.

Naija News understands that the officers were apprehended following a complaint by a young man that the security operatives extorted him.

The young man was said to have complained on Twitter and tagged the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Adejobi Olumuyiwa, who in turn tweeted and queried the Rivers State Police Command on why people in the state are still complaining about extortion and harassment, despite several warnings by the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba.

Responding via a tweet, the spokesperson for the Rivers State Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the arrest of the erring police officers.

Naija News learnt that the arrested officers were attached to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department of the Rivers State Police Command.

Lagos Police Spokesperson Reacts As Officers Harasses Young Man

Meanwhile, the Lagos Police spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, has reacted to an incident that occurred in Ishashi area of the state, which he said is a hotbed for cultists.

This is coming after a tweep identified as Partron shared a video of some policemen harassing a young Nigerian on the streets of Lagos.

He wrote, “Police beating a boy because he refused to drop his phone with them.”

Reacting to the video, Hundeyin said that searching the young men and finding hard drugs on them called for closer investigation as cultists take hard drugs. He further described the video of the young man being harassed as malicious.

Justifying why the young man was stopped from making a call, Hundeyin said the police officers were only trying to stop the destruction of evidence as the young man could have alerted his ‘gang members.’

He also accused the young man of resisting arrest.

He wrote: “Your narrative is wrong and misleading. It is a fact that Ishashi is one of the hotbeds of cultism in Lagos State. It is equally a known fact that these cultists engage in heavy drug abuse. () So doing a random search of three young men moving together and finding hard drugs them would definitely call for a closer look.

”Yes, he was being prevented from making a call. No one attempted to collect his phone. This is not the norm in all cases. This particular case borders on a felony, cultism. Freshly arrested suspects in cases as sensitive as cultism will not be allowed to make calls IMMEDIATELY so that they don’t alert their gang members to destroy evidence and bolt.

”Calls can later be made after the initial documentation and in the presence of the IPO. This was a clear case of resisting arrest, and nothing about phone.

“Resorting to theatrics and false accusations along sensitive issues of phone searching will not deter @LagosPoliceNG from carrying out its mandate. Doing malicious video recordings will equally not cow the police into docility.”