The Federal Capital Territory, FCT Commissioner of Police, CP Ahmed Sanusi, has disclosed that four officers of the command are currently in detention for allegedly extorting N53,000 from the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC.
Sanusi made the disclosure on Monday during a press briefing at the FCT Police Command headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that the incident occurred during an illegal stop-and-search operation within the nation’s capital city.
According to the CP, the officers abandoned their designated duty posts and mounted an unauthorized checkpoint around the Banex area in Wuse, where they intercepted and extorted the ICPC chairman without knowing his identity.
He described the officers as “thieves,” noting that they took the ICPC chairman to a Point of Sale, POS, operator where they were able to withdraw the money from his account.
CP said the officer subsequently shared the proceeds among themselves, before the ICPC boss reported the matter to the command.
“I must say here that we currently have four policemen in custody who extorted a highly placed individual without knowing who he was. In clear terms, they extorted the Chairman of the ICPC.
“They collected N53,000 from him. They took him to a POS operator, where he withdrew the money, paid the transaction charges, and they shared the money among themselves,” Sanusi said.
The police commissioner urged residents of the FCT to promptly contact the command’s emergency numbers anytime they encounter similar incidents involving police misconduct.
He vowed that the command under his leadership would ensure that all criminal elements within the command are fished out.
He said upon completion of the investigation, the four officers will be punished and “those who need to be sacked will be sacked”.
