Some police officers attached to the Area F of the Lagos State Police Command have been detained for extortion.
The police officers allegedly extorted a Chinese expatriate along the Sheraton-Opebi link Road area of the state.
According to Punch, the incident occurred when the officers numbering three were conducting a stop and search at the location on Wednesday.
The police officers were said to have flagged down the foreigner and requested his documents, including a green card.
Although the expatriate presented the documents through his phone gallery, the officers insisted on seeing the original copies.
A rights activist, Lameed Adekunle, who was privy to the development told our correspondent on Sunday that after a series of discussions and pleas from the expatriate, the officers forced him to pay N100,000 into a Point Of Sale account.
He said, “The expatriate was on his way for an urgent meeting when the police officers stopped him and demanded his documents including his green card which was shown to the officers through a phone gallery but the officers insisted on seeing the original. Because he was unable to provide it, the officers requested N100,000 and since they did not want to get late to the meeting, they had to make the payment into the account provided to them.”
Speaking on how it became public knowledge, Adewale Ojo of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights said the expatriate, who works with a popular construction company, narrated his experience to his Nigerian co-workers who later escalated the matter.
He said, “The man just moved to Nigeria and he felt so disappointed in the way he was treated. He had to tell some of his workers who later informed us. We took it up, informed the police authorities and the officers were identified. This also led to their arrest and detention.”
He further stated that the policemen were summoned to the provost’s office in the Ikeja area of the state, adding that they had since been detained.
Ojo added the police officers were instructed to refund the money to the foreigner.
“The money is expected to be refunded tomorrow, Monday. We are doing this to make sure that the bad eggs in the police are fished out and we also want to follow this particular case to the end like we have always done,” he added.
In a picture sent to our correspondent, one of the officers was seen conversing with the expatriate in his vehicle.
A receipt of the transfer bearing the name of the expatriate and the recipient was also seen by our correspondent.
The command spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, could not be reached for a reaction as calls made to his telephone line were not answered. A text message sent to him had yet to be replied to as this report was filed.
PUNCH Metro reported in October 2024 that officers from Area C Police Command in Surulere allegedly extorted the sum of N1m from three members of the National Youth Service Corps members.
It was gathered that the corps members were stopped along the Surulere expressway before a group of officers surrounded their vehicle and started searching.
An argument ensued between the corps members and the officers before the vehicle was driven to the Area C Police Station where the extortion was said to have taken place.
