Some policemen in Enugu from the Anti-kidnapping Unit of the state command have allegedly forcibly collected N3 million from a civil engineer named Michael after invading his house around 7:00 am on December 23 without a warrant of arrest.
The policemen said to be three in number and fully armed, thereafter moved the graduate of Enugu State University of Technology to an Access Bank branch on Independence Layout, a popular section of Enugu metropolis, where they forced him to transfer N1 million into an account before taking him to a Point of Sales operator working closely with them in another part of the city to remove extra N2 million.
The law enforcement personnel allegedly went ahead to make the 30-year-old man sign a statement incriminating himself at gunpoint.
The police team headed by one Ugochukwu Obi is said to be in the tradition of moving around Enugu city in mufti looking for innocent persons to frame and extort huge amounts of money from.
The incident, which still appears like a dream to Michael, has left him terribly shaken and unable to come over the trauma.
Speaking with SaharaReporters on Tuesday, he said, “They extorted N3 million from me at gunpoint without committing any offence.
“After invading my home without any arrest warrant, the three policemen in mufti including Ugochukwu Obi, Ogoro and Daniel took me to a bank and made me move N1 million into an account. Later they took me to a POS guy where N2 million was forcefully taken from my account.
“The policemen are from the Anti-kidnapping Unit in Enugu after Shoprite. Till this moment, none of them has been able to tell me what my offence is.”
The spokesperson for the police in Enugu, Daniel Ndukwe, when contacted by SaharaReporters said that the matter will be investigated as soon as all the details get to the command.
In recent times, cases of police extortion of innocent citizens have been on the rise in many parts of Nigeria with the authorities unable to nib the menace in the bud.
Constantly harassing and extorting young citizens riding in sleek cars and dressing in fine clothes, policemen across the country have continued to violate people’s rights with impunity despite public outcry over their nefarious activities.
In October 2020, the situation hit a climax when young Nigerians took to the streets to protest against police harassment, extortion and brutality.
The demonstrations quickly gathered momentum, grabbing headlines across the globe in the weeks that followed.
In response, the Nigeria Police Force scrapped the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and promised reforms in several areas.
However, in Enugu that is not the case. SARS office by Golf Estate, GRA is still functional with their operatives still terrorizing innocent citizens.
Although the Police authorities announced the replacement of SARS with SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactical) Squad, SWAT is virtually non functional in Enugu State as they seem to have no known office or operational base.
Perhaps, this is because the Enugu State Commissioner of Police prefers to work with notorious police outfits like SARS and the Anti Cult Unit instead of SWAT, despite the latter’s specialized training.
