Four policemen attached to Ijanikin Division in Badagry, Lagos State have been arrested for allegedly robbing a Togo-based Nigerian of his CFA350,000. Inspector Victor Amiete, Sergeants Samuel Gbemunu and Afolabi Oluwaseun as well as Corporal Adigun Omotayo are currently being detained at the Provost Section, Command Headquarters, Ikeja.
It was gathered that they robbed their victim, Theodore Ifunnaya, on December 17, around Iyana-Era, during a stop and search operation.
Ifunnaya, who was returning home from his base for the yuletide, was allegedly bundled into a patrol vehicle by the suspects and taken to their station as soon as they saw the money on him. It was gathered that the alleged rogue cops also tortured, stripped and photographed the victim before they seized his foreign currency.
The suspects were said to have subsequently invited a Bureau De Change (BDC) operator who changed the money and gave them the naira equivalent of it from which they gave Ifunnaya N2,000 to locate his Lagos address. The culprits further threatened to release the nude pictures taken of Ifunnaya on social media and accuse him of cultism and armed robbery if he protested.
The suspects were however unfortunate as Ifunnaya’s relatives were said to know the Area K Commander, Hope Okafor, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP). They reported the matter to her as soon as the victim narrated his ordeal.
Okafor, it was gathered contacted the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits and recovery of the money. The victim, it was gathered, had since travelled to Owerri, Imo State for fear that colleagues of the suspects could come after him.
Confirming the arrest, spokesman for the command, Chike Oti, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), reiterated the Commissioner of Police’s zero tolerance for corruption. Oti denied the victim was stripped during interrogation.
He said the arrest was immediate and possible as a result of the command’s stance on corruption and indiscipline, adding that the officers were undergoing trial. “If found guilty at the end of the orderly room trial, they will be dismissed from the police.
Meanwhile, the Ogun State police command has arrested a hardened armed robber who belongs to a notorious robbery gang. Lucky Emmanuel, according to the police, was arrested along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Christmas Day at 10:00p.m. while trying to dispossess passengers of their belongings.
A statement by the command’s spokesman, Mr. Abimbola Oyeyemi, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital yesterday indicated that the suspect had confessed that he attempted to rob travellers who were stranded because the vehicle in which they were traveling broke down. Oyeyemi said luck ran out of the suspect when police patrol team, led by Akinlade Johnson, arrived the scene Oyeyemi said: “While the driver was trying to rectify the fault, the hoodlum suddenly came out from under the bridge and held them hostage at gun-point, ordering them to surrender all in their possession.”
He explained that the suspects were four but on sighting the police, the hoodlums took to their heels. The policemen hotly chased them and one of them (Emmanuel) was subsequently arrested while the other three escaped.
