By Oluwatosin Maliki
A Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the Meiran area of the Alimosho Local Government has been found culpable of extortion, an act described by the police as a failure in leadership and supervisory ineptitude.
Idowu Owohunwa, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, has ordered the immediate removal of the DPO.
In a statement released by Benjamin Hundeyin, the police spokesperson in Lagos, he noted that aside from the DPO, a few other officers have been identified as being involved in the alleged extortion of a phone dealer. He also mentioned that they are currently at the Command Headquarters where their orderly room trial has begun.
The police command initiated an investigation when the Meiran police station received a report of an alleged extortion of the sum of N200,000 from a phone dealer.
Quest Times learned that the officers unlawfully detained the phone dealer and his brother for failing to provide an identity card or receipts for the iPhones found in his brother’s possession.
Consequently, the officers detained them on charges of theft and armed robbery until the brothers paid the sum of N200,000 for their release, which was paid to the police in cash.