Police operatives allegedly extort N800,000 from Nigerian

A Nigerian man has accused police operatives from Anambra State of extorting N800,000 from him.

A human rights activist, Harrison Gwamnishu, drew the attention of the Nigerian police to the alleged extortion via a post on his X handle on Tuesday.

Mr Gwamnishu uploaded on the X handle a voice note of the unidentified man and screenshot of his transaction receipt indicating that the N810,000 was withdrawn from his bank account.

“Dear Nigeria Police Force, kindly look into this case and help us fish out these officers that have continued to destroy the image of the Police Force,” the human rights activist wrote.

How it happened

In the voice note uploaded by Mr Gwamnishu, the victim said he was heading to a mechanic workshop on Friday when police operatives flagged down his vehicle at Upper Iweka Onitsha in Anambra State.

He said there were four police operatives from the Area Command Onitsha, Onitsha North Local Government Area of the state.

“I can identify four of them,” he said.

The victim said the operatives requested his car particulars and an explanation for using tinted glass in the vehicles.

He said the head of the police team, upon receipt of the documents, immediately claimed that the car documents and a doctor’s report permitting his use of tinted glass were fake.

“But I have been using the doctor’s report since 2022, yet he said it is fake,” the victim said.

He said three of the operatives subsequently searched his car and immediately one of them brought out a pack of marijuana from the vehicle.

“But I don’t smoke. I had just washed my car at a car wash stand.

“He implanted weed in my car,” the victim said.

Weed is another word for marijuana.

‘Don’t tell anyone’

The victim said immediately they brought out the pack of marijuana, they siezed his car and his mobile phone and asked him not tell anybody where he was going to.

“It was like an act of kidnapping,” he said.

He said when they arrived the Command’s office, the operatives told him that he should pay N5 million to be freed or they would transfer him to Force Headquarters, Abuja.

“They had already printed two transfer papers to transfer me to Abuja immediately,” he said.

He said he repeatedly asked what his offence was, but they responded that they would consider accepting N2 million from him to free him.

The victim said the operatives refused to give him back his mobile phone, until he informed them that he wanted to call someone who would bring the amount they demanded.

He said he subsequently reached a relative who came along with a lawyer to the police facility.

But the lawyer, according to him, strangely began negotiations with the operatives and allegedly lied to them that the victim had accepted to pay N800,000.

“They forced me to appear in a video, snapped me with the weed, forced me to say that I am a smoker and that I am a Yahoo boy. They forced me to say everything (that could incriminate me),” he said.

“Yahoo boy” is a Nigerian slang for an internet fraudster.

“After that, one of them removed his uniform, put on a plain cloth, followed me outside to force me to withdraw N900,000 first because they had checked my account balance after seizing my phone and opening my bank application,” the victim added.

He said he finally withdrew and gave the operatives N800,000 which he did through a Point on Sale (PoS) operator, but they further asked him to go his bank to transfer additional N1 million to their account.

PREMIUM TIMES understood that out of the N810,000 allegedly extorted from the victim, N10,000 was the service charge for the PoS withdrawal.

“So, it was when I went outside that I had the chance to call somebody and say, ‘please, I am in trouble. Come to the station. This is what is happening,’” he narrated.

He said the operatives got angry when they noticed that he had made a phone call.

“They said why did I call somebody. That they will deal with me. That they will finish me and that they will end my life,” he said.

The victim said it took the intervention of the lawyer and one other person he phoned earlier to be freed by the operatives.

Police speak

When contacted on Tuesday, the police spokesperson in Anambra State, Tochukwu Ikenga, told PREMIUM TIMES that the attention of the police in the state had been drawn to the allegation.

Mr Ikenga, a superintendent of police, said efforts were already on to identify the officers involved in the alleged extortion.

The police spokesperson said “information about the incident has been escalated to Area Commander Onitsha” for necessary actions.

“Meanwhile, the Command also wishes to invite the victim to come to Police Command Headquarters, Awka at the Police Public Relations Office to help us with more information that will help in facilitating the necessary procedures involved in the process,” he stated.

Earlier, the Force spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, in response to the X post, asked the victim to reach out to commissioner of police in Anambra State through Mr Ikenga.

Mr Adejobi, an assistant commissioner of police, dropped the phone number of the police spokesperson and asked the victim to contact him.

“This must be investigated and the police must act appropriately,” he assured.

Not the first time

Cases of police extortion in the country have continued despite punishment by police authorities, such as dismissal from service.

The latest extortion allegations came days after an operative was dismissed in Abia State for allegedly shooting dead an entrepreneur over his refusal to bribe him.

Earlier in March, another operative was dismissed while two others were suspended for allegedly extorting $3,000 from two Nigerians in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

A Divisional Crimes Officer of Abraka Division in Delta State was also removed from office for allegedly extorting over N2 million.

This newspaper reported the detention of some operatives at the police headquarters in Abuja for allegedly extorting N30.3 million.