The police in Anambra State have arrested and detained six officers who allegedly tortured and extorted N200,000 from a trader in Onitsha, the commercial hub of the South-eastern state.
Tochukwu Ikenga, the police spokesperson in the state, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.
The arrest and detention of the six operatives followed a video clip circulating on Facebook in which a woman narrated how some officers tortured and extorted N200,000 from her husband, a trader.
How it happened
In the now viral video clip, the woman, who did not identify herself, said her unnamed husband was flagged down by some armed police officers under a flyover bridge while he was transporting some cartons of malt in his white bus after purchasing the drinks from Onitsha Relief Market on 12 March.
She narrated that the officers demanded the vehicle’s particulars, and that the husband brought them out and showed to the officers.
According to her, when the officers confirmed that the particulars were valid and complete, they claimed that the vehicle ought to have custom colour, not white.
“This vehicle has been driven for more than 20 years,” the woman remarked in Igbo language.
She said some of the officers then asked her husband to go and settle their leader in a police vehicle stationed near the flyover.
“When my husband went to see their oga, some officers blocked him from stepping out of the vehicle. They zoomed off and then handcuffed my husband, calling him a criminal. They asked him to pay them N500,000,” she narrated.
“Before you knew it, my husband was forced to transfer N200,000 to them through a Point on Sale (PoS) operator.”
The woman said the husband informed her that he paid the money because he believed that the officers might be kidnappers, considering their utterances and threats to him.
She said the officers were identified after she reported the matter to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at the Okpoko Divisional Headquarters, Austin Okafor, who ordered other operatives to accompany the victim to the flyover to confirm the incident from the officers.
“They initially denied knowing my husband before they later admitted. They subsequently returned the N200,000 to my husband,” she said, praising the DPO for his professionalism and efforts.
Arrest and detention
In the Monday statement, Mr Ikenga, a superintendent of police, said the Commissioner of Police in the state, Ikioye Orutugu, ordered the detention of the six officers over the incident.
The spokesperson said, without mentioning their names, the indicted officers included two assistant superintendents of police and four police inspectors.
“Meanwhile, senior officers connected to the incident have been queried, while statements from the other ranks involved have been taken under caution in line with established police investigative procedures,” he said.
Mr Ikenga said the police authorities in the state have initiated steps to arrest the POS operator involved in the incident, explaining that the operator’s role in the alleged extortion “suggests possible conspiracy in the incident.”
The spokesperson said the police in the state have also invited the victim through the DPO “to come forward to provide additional testimony to aid the investigation and guide further disciplinary action.”
He assured residents of Anambra State that the police in the state were treating the matter with the seriousness it deserves.
Not the first time
Cases of police brutality, extortion, extrajudicial killings and other unprofessional activities in Nigeria have continued despite sanctions by police authorities, such as dismissal from service.
The latest incident occurred barely a month after three officers were dismissed over alleged kidnapping, extorting of N1.7 million and car snatching in Imo, another state in the South-east.
Two months ago, police operatives shot dead a private motorcyclist in Ebonyi State.
In November 2024, police operatives from the Crack Squad in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State shot dead a labourer and critically injured three others in the state.
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A similar incident happened in the same Abakaliki in 2018 when a police officer shot and killed a commercial motorcyclist for allegedly refusing to give him N50 bribe.
In August 2024, police operatives in Bayelsa State extorted N3 million from a Nigerian man at gunpoint.
The officers were subsequently arrested after the victim petitioned police authorities.
The police operatives later returned the N3 million to the victim, about three weeks later.