The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has detained four police officers for allegedly extorting N53,000 from the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Dr Musa Aliyu (SAN), during an illegal stop-and-search operation in Abuja.
The FCT Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Sanusi, disclosed this while briefing journalists in Abuja on Monday.
Sanusi described the officers as “thieves,” saying they had no business wearing the police uniform.
According to him, the officers abandoned their various duty posts and mounted an unauthorised checkpoint around the Banex area in Wuse, where they allegedly extorted the ICPC chairman without knowing his identity.
He said the officers compelled Aliyu to withdraw N53,000 through a Point of Sale (POS) operator, pay the transaction charges, and later shared the money among themselves.
“We have about four policemen in custody as we speak who successfully extorted somebody of high importance, unknown to them that this person is a highly placed person in society. In clear terms, they extorted the Chairman of the ICPC.
“They extorted him of N53,000. They took him to a POS, he withdrew the money, paid the charges, and they shared the money among themselves,” Sanusi said.
The police commissioner said preliminary investigations showed that the officers had deserted their designated duty posts, formed a gang, and set up an illegal checkpoint to extort motorists.
“They are a gang of criminals who left various divisions, clustered together, moved to Wuse Banex, and created a checkpoint where they perpetrated this act before fleeing,” he said.
Sanusi disclosed that the command declared the officers wanted before arresting their gang leader, whose confession led to the arrest of the remaining members of the syndicate.
“We got all of them. We are going to make sure they are severely punished. Those who are to be dismissed will definitely be dismissed,” he added.
The commissioner reiterated that the Inspector-General of Police had banned indiscriminate searches of citizens’ mobile phones by officers on patrol.
He urged residents to reject any unlawful demand by police officers to search their phones on the roadside and to immediately report such incidents through the police emergency lines.
“You cannot stop anybody on the road and ask the person to bring out his phone for a search. If any police officer stops you and asks to search your phone, don’t agree. Call the police emergency lines, and we will ask them why,” Sanusi said.
He also urged members of the public to promptly report cases of extortion and other misconduct involving police personnel, assuring them that offenders would be identified and sanctioned.
“We will continue to enforce the IG’s directive. Some of them are on the task because they are criminally minded. They want to perpetrate such acts. If we get them, they will face disciplinary action and be made to face the consequences,” he said.
