The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has arrested four police officers accused of extorting N53,000 from the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Musa Aliyu, during an alleged illegal stop-and-search operation in Abuja.
The FCT Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Sanusi, disclosed the development while briefing journalists in Abuja on Monday.
According to Sanusi, the officers abandoned their assigned duty posts and mounted an unauthorised checkpoint around the Banex area in Wuse, where they allegedly stopped and 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 subsequently shared the money among themselves.
“I must say here too that 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,” Sanusi said.
“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.
“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.”
The police commissioner said the command declared the officers wanted before arresting the alleged leader of the group, whose confession led investigators to the arrest of the other suspects.
Sanusi assured that the command would ensure the officers face the full weight of disciplinary measures.
“We got all of them. We are going to make sure they are severely punished. Those that are going to be dismissed will definitely be dismissed,” he said.
The arrests come amid ongoing efforts by the Nigeria Police Force to tackle misconduct, corruption and extortion by personnel across the country.
Credit: TheCable
