The Lagos Police Command says it has detained a group of policemen that extorted N200, 000 from a United Arab Emirates-based Nigerian, who returned to the country at the weekend.
The rogue policemen were unmasked on Friday after some social media advocates narrated the victim’s ordeal on Twitter.
Reports say the victim was stopped by the policemen in FESTAC Town, in a taxi he boarded from the airport.
Lamenting the continued harassment and extortion of young people by some policemen, activist Rinu Oduala said the team that accosted the UAE returnee profiled him, unlawfully searched his phone, harassed and dragged him to their station.
“See why some of us haven’t removed #EndSARS from our displays? They forced him to write false statements without his lawyer, then asked him to give them five million naira. He ended up paying two hundred thousand naira. A young Nigerian comes back after years of being away and his first night in the country is filled with nightmares,” she said.
The victim said the rogue policemen took him to a Point of Sale (POS) operator nearby where they collected the N200,000 from his account.
Police spokesman, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said the matter has been “handled, the money N200,000 recovered and returned to the victim. The policemen will soon face trial and be punished. I am personally monitoring their case and they must surely be caused to face the full wrath of the law. They have been arrested. We will give full details later,” the police spokesman assured.