The Lagos State Police Command has arrested seven
policemen for alleged robbery, extortion, murder and defilement.
Briefing journalist yesterday, the Lagos State
Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni, disclosed that three among the
policemen used to go on patrols round the metropolis, raiding and extorting
citizens at gunpoint.
The three policemen fingered in the extortion have
been identified as Sergeant Benjamin Oboh, Sergeant Onyenedu Kennedy, who is
attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ipakodo and Sergeant Monday
Ehigator, working with Bariga Police Station.
The three policemen were alleged to have
stopped Mr Adeshina Adekunle and accused him of being an internet fraudster.
They allegedly collected the sum of N65, 000
from him. Apparently not satisfied with that amount, they marched him to the
nearest Automated Teller Machine and made him to withdraw N40, 000.
The three policemen also went to the same spot
on where they arrested Adekunle on July 19. They stopped another victim called Ghenoba
Godspower and accused him of being an internet fraudster. They searched him,
found N30, 000 and made away with it.
Owoseni, who addressed journalists at the
Police Officers Mess, said: “On July 17, around 10: 30pm, the three policemen
went to Ikeja Under Bridge in plainclothes, in a Toyota Camry car, marked JN
470 and extorted people. They were armed. While the operation was going on, the
Rapid Response Squad (RRS) Commander, Olatunji Disu and his team arrived at the
scene. The policemen were arrested and money recovered from them.
“The policemen are tarnishing the image of the
police by using weapons bought with tax payers’ money to threaten, intimidate
and extort the people.”
Owoseni, who expressed disappointment in the
conduct of the three policemen, noted that another two policemen went to Ajao
Estate to arrest a suspect and started shooting sporadically. The policemen
shot and injured a woman.
“The woman, who was shot by the policemen, is
recuperating presently in a hospital. No policeman will be allowed to take laws
into their hands. They will go through orderly room trial before they will be
charged to court,” said Owoseni.
Owoseni, who revealed that two policemen had
been arrested for defiling a minor, refused to mention the age of the girl. He,
however, started that the two police would be charged to court after
investigations.
The police boss appealed to members of the
public to collaborate with the police, in order to prosecute erring police
officers.
He said: “Most times, when policemen are
arrested for orderly room trials, victims don’t usually turn up for witness. It
is the same members of the public, who will beg that the policemen be set free.
We do not want to cover up any erring police officer. Therefore, members of the
public, particularly those who are victims should turn up whenever they are
invited to testify against such officers. That is the only way we can sanitize
the force.”
According to him, the policemen arrested for
extortion have been dismissed.
Owoseni said that 24 robbery suspects, 19
suspected cultists and three kidnap suspects were also arrested in the last one
month.
He said that two AK-47 rifles were recovered
from the suspects, while some dangerous weapons, including 88 different charms
and 16 vehicles, were recovered from the suspected cultists.
The police boss added that a gang who
specialized in robbing passengers in commercial buses, otherwise known as “one
chance,” was also arrested and phones stolen from victims had been recovered.
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