Hyacinth Chinweuba
The Lagos state police command is investigating four policemen attached to Ijanikin Division in the state for allegedly robbing one Theodore Ifunnaya of 350,000 CFA (about N221,508).
The police spokesman in Lagos, Chike Oti, a chief superintendent, said that the victim is a Nigerian based in Togo.
Oti said that the policemen could face dismissal if found guilty, stressing, however, that the victim was not stripped naked during interrogation as being alleged in some quarters.
Oti said that the affected policemen had been transferred to the Provost Section of the Command for investigation.
The officers allegedly accosted the victim coming from Togo to celebrate Christmas in Nigeria at Iyana – Ira, Badagry area on December 17.
The suspects allegedly subjected the victim to tortuous search and interrogation during when they discovered the sum of money with him.
They were alleged to have bundled him into their patrol vehicle to Ijanikin police station where they seized his money and invited a bureau de change operator to exchange the CFA currency into Naira equivalent.
The officers, having satisfied that they had subdued their victim with a threat, they allegedly released him and gave him N2000 out of his money, to enable him locate his Lagos residence.
The victim, after regaining freedom from his alleged police captors, told his family all he went through, which led to a complaint to Area ‘K’ Commander, ACP Hope Okafor.
ACP Okafor was said to have intervened by recovering the stolen money and arrested the erring policemen for interrogation.