° Inspector nabbed for shooting into the air
The Lagos Police Commissioner, Idowu Owohunwa has removed the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) incharge of Miran Police Division, Tony Abutu for delerection of duty while of his subordinates will face orderly room trial for alleged extortion.
The three policemen were arrested for allegedly extorting the sum of N200,000 from a mobile phone dealer, Ibrahim Saliu, in the state.
Abutu, was removed by the C P for leadership dereliction and supervisory ineptitude.
His removal was less than 24 hours after a report on Saliu’s allegations against the three policemen went viral on the social media .
The removal of the DPO and the arrest of three of his subordinates was announced yesterday by Lagos State Police Publlic Relations Officer( PPRO) SP Benjamin Hundeyin, through a short statement released on his official social media handle.
The PPRO wrote:” Meanwhile, all the officers involved have been identified and are currently at the Command headquarters where their orderly room trial has commenced”.
Saliu , who narrated his ordeals said trouble started when the policemen detained him and his brother, Olaiya Murtala, for not providing an identity card or the receipts for the iPhones found with his brother.
He said, he had sent his brother to his shop with six iPhones, but during a stop-and-search,the policemen accosted him and took him to Miran police station.
According to him, when he rushed to the police station to secure his brother’s release, he was asked to provide his ID card and the receipts for the phones which were not available at that material time.
According to him: “I’m an engineer and I sell phones. On Saturday morning, I gave my brother five iPhones and keys to open the shop while I went to withdraw money from the bank and would join him later.
“At about two hours later, he called that some policemen on patrol had collected the phones from him and have taken him to the station.
“When I got there, the DPO asked me to produce my ID and the receipts for the phones. I told him that I didn’t have them. I told him that I sell phones, but he didn’t believe me. I then told him that though I didn’t have all the receipts, I could take them to my shop which was close by but they still refused to follow me.
“The DPO took the iPhones, removed the warranty stickers on them, and declared that my brother and I are thieves and armed robbers.
“The next thing I heard was the DPO giving them an order to detain us and that we would be locked up for stealing and armed robbery. We were surprised, but we started pleading with him to tamper justice with mercy.
” After much pleading , the DPO later asked us to pay the sum of N500,000 to secure our freedom. We pleaded till we settled for N200,000 which the policemen insisted must be paid in cash.
“one of the policemen led me to a nearby POS operator stand where I withdrew N182, 000 in addition to the N20,000 I had on me which I handed over to the policemen after which they released us ” .
In a similar development, a police Inspector who was seen firing shots into the air to celebrate the reopening of the sealed Ladipo market, in the State have also been identified and arrested.
The inspector in a video that went viral was seen discharging rounds into the air while onlookers were cheering him on.
Hundeyin on his X handle , tweeted: “The police officer in this video, Inspector Istifanus Kwanchi, serving with the Mobile Police, has been brought in for appropriate disciplinary actions”.
“Lagos Police Command condemns in its entirety all forms of unprofessional and unethical behavior on the part of its officers and men, and will bring to book anyone found culpable”, said Hundeyin.
