•Lagos CP replaces DPO, orders trial of officers over extortion
Operatives of Lagos State Police Command, led by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of ljora-Badia, have arrested 20-year-old Aminat Ajayi with 103 wraps of Colorado.
Colorado is a brand of psychotropic drugs commonly used by many Nigerians, especially youths.
Spokesperson for the Command, Benjamin Hundeyin, told The Guardian, yesterday, that the DPO and his team, acting on actionable intelligence, stormed the Whitesand area of Ijora, where the suspect was arrested.
Hundeyin said: “Investigation is ongoing. Reduction in drugs is directly proportional to reduction in crime and we will not relent. The lady will be charged to court.
“Also, Ikotun Division has recovered a locally made firearm and six live cartridges. On sighting a patrol vehicle, some hoodlums on Liasu Road dropped a polythene bag and took to their heels. “On checking, this locally-made firearm and six live cartridges were discovered.”
MEANWHILE, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa, has replaced the DPO of Okokomaiko division, Emmanuel Adebagha, with the most senior officer in the division.
Adebagha was removed for his lack of supervision of his men after several extortions were reported against them without him taking action.
Owohunwa also ordered the commencement of disciplinary action against him and all indicted officers, who are already in the state headquarters.
It was reported on Friday that the officers attached to the Okokomaiko division of the Command forcefully took N100,000 from a mobile phone dealer, at the Alaba International Market, Lagos State, identified as Onyinyechi Anwusi. It was reported that the officers took the money from Anwusi without finding any incriminating evidence on him.
The money was reportedly received by Ndueso Okon Archibong with account number 9550455342, PalmPay Limited.
The victim narrated that the police officers accosted and searched him without a warrant, then forced him to unlock his mobile phone and search through the contents of his phone, but nothing incriminating was found.
The officers, thereafter, forced him to write a statement under duress, indicting himself as an Internet fraudster, popularly known “as Yahoo boy”, and forcefully made him pay the sum of N100,000, for doing nothing.
It was alleged that a few days before the incident, the men of the division had extorted a citizen of N31,000 for not having an Identification Card (ID).”
It was said that extortion was a normal thing for the officers of the division.
When The Guardian reached out to Hundeyin, the state’s police spokesperson, he said: “All the officers indicted are no longer at the station, they are being tried, while the DPO has been removed.
The most senior person is now acting until a new DPO is picked.”
When asked if the money has been returned to the victim, he said: “The man was asked to come, but he hasn’t shown up and we can’t return money in absentia.”
