The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has detained four police officers accused of extorting ₦53,000 from the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Dr Musa Aliyu (SAN), during an illegal stop-and-search operation in Abuja.
The FCT Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Sanusi, disclosed this on Monday while briefing journalists, describing the officers as “thieves” who had no business wearing the police uniform.
According to him, the officers abandoned their designated duty posts, mounted an unauthorised checkpoint around the Banex area of Wuse and extorted the ICPC chairman without knowing his identity.
Sanusi said the officers forced Aliyu to withdraw ₦53,000 through a Point of Sale (POS) operator, pay the transaction charges and then shared the money among themselves.
“They extorted him of ₦53,000. They took him to a POS, he withdrew the money, paid the charges and they shared the money among themselves,” he said.
The commissioner said investigations revealed that the officers had formed a gang after leaving their respective divisions to operate the illegal checkpoint.
He added that the command declared the officers wanted before arresting their gang leader, whose confession led to the arrest of the remaining members of the group.
“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,” Sanusi said.
The police commissioner reiterated that the Inspector-General of Police had prohibited indiscriminate searches of citizens’ mobile phones by officers on patrol.
He advised residents to refuse unlawful requests by policemen to search their phones on the roadside and to immediately report such incidents through the police emergency lines.
“You cannot stop anybody on the road and ask the person to bring out his phone for search. If any policeman stops you and asks to search your phone, don’t agree. Call the police emergency lines and we will ask them why,” he said.
Sanusi urged members of the public to promptly report cases of extortion and other misconduct involving police personnel, assuring that offending officers would be identified and sanctioned.
He stressed that the command would continue to enforce the Inspector-General’s directive against illegal stop-and-search operations, warning that officers found engaging in such misconduct would face disciplinary action.
