Four Police officers detained for extorting ICPC Chairman of N53,000

The Federal Capital Territory Police Command has detained four police officers accused of extorting N53,000 from Musa Aliyu, Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), during an illegal stop-and-search operation in Abuja.

Ahmed Sanusi, FCT Commissioner of Police, disclosed this on Monday while briefing journalists in Abuja, describing the officers as “criminals” who had no business wearing the police uniform.

According to the police commissioner, the officers abandoned their designated duty posts, converged around the Banex area of Wuse, where they mounted an unauthorised checkpoint and engaged in extortion without realising that their victim was the ICPC chairman.

Sanusi said the officers compelled Aliyu to withdraw N53,000 through a Point of Sale operator, pay the transaction charges, and subsequently shared the money among themselves.

“I must say here too that we have about four policemen in custody as we speak who successfully extorted somebody of high importance, unknown to them that this person is a highly placed person in society. In clear terms, they extorted the Chairman of the ICPC.

“They extorted him of N53,000. They took him to a POS, he withdrew the money, paid the charges and they shared the money among themselves,” the commissioner said.

He said preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects had deserted their official assignments before forming what he described as a criminal gang that established an illegal checkpoint to prey on unsuspecting motorists.

“They are a gang of criminals who left various divisions, clustered together, moved to Wuse Banex and created a checkpoint where they perpetrated this act before fleeing,” Sanusi said.

The commissioner explained that the command immediately declared the officers wanted before intelligence efforts led to the arrest of the alleged gang leader, whose confession resulted in 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,” he said.

Sanusi reiterated the Inspector-General of Police’s directive prohibiting indiscriminate searches of citizens’ mobile phones by police personnel on patrol.

He warned residents against complying with unlawful requests by officers to inspect their phones on the roadside, urging them instead to 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.

The commissioner also appealed to residents of the Federal Capital Territory to promptly report cases of extortion, harassment and other forms of misconduct involving police officers, assuring that offenders would be identified and sanctioned.

“We will still enforce the IG’s directive. Some of them are on the task because they are criminally minded. They want to perpetrate such acts. If we get them, they will face disciplinary actions and will be made to face the consequences,” Sanusi added.