Some police operatives have allegedly “kidnapped” and extorted N1 million from a Nigerian man in Enugu State, South-east Nigeria.

The incident happened on Saturday in Enugu State.

A social media user (@Mr_Robmichael1) raised an alarm via a post on his X handle, alleging that some police operatives had extorted N1 million from his younger brother.

“Nigerian Police officers in Enugu used a POS to collect N1m from my younger brother after kidnapping him and took him to (an) unknown village,” he wrote at 1:27 p.m. on Saturday.
In a series of posts the same day, he narrated how the incident happened, pointing out that the operatives were from Awkunanaw Divisional Police.

The X user said the police operatives, who were manning a checkpoint, stopped the vehicle his brother boarded and asked all the passengers to alight for a stop-and-search operation.

He said his brother alighted with his luggage but left a small bag on his seat, which prompted the operatives to accuse him of hiding something in the bag.

“They (operatives) opened the small bag and found only perfumes and body spray inside, opened his main box, searched it, and discovered his medications.

“He (the brother) explained that he was taking antibiotics for a cold. They also found both an iPhone and an Android phone, prompting them to label him a fraudster,” he narrated.

The X user said the operatives forced the driver to leave and threatened to take his brother to the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He said when they got to a junction close to the EFCC facility, the operatives began to threaten the victim to “settle them” or they would take him inside the office of the anti-graft agency.

He said the operatives later took his brother to a bush and threatened to kill him if he did not pay them N3 million.

He said the operatives got angry after the brother received a credit alert which showed that he had money despite initially telling them he had no money.

“They pointed a gun at him and forced him to open his phone and bank app, which he did.
They saw that he had a balance of 1 million naira and drove him to a nearby POS shop where they withdrew all the money from his account,” he said.

The X user said the brother was travelling to Umuahia but that the operatives later dropped him off at Peace Park in the Garriki Area of Enugu.

“That was when he called me and I contacted Daniel Ndukwe,” he said.
N1 million refunded’

The X user later announced that the N1 million had been refunded by the operatives following the intervention of police authorities in Enugu State.

“N1 Million naira recovered from Nigerian Police officers attached to Awkunanaw Police station, MTD, Garriki, Enugu,” he wrote.

He commended the police spokesperson in the state, Mr Ndukwe, a Deputy Superintendent of police, for his assistance.

He equally praised the Divisional Police Officer of the Awkunanaw Police Divisional Headquarters, Longinus Chukwuegu, for his intervention.

Reacting via a post on X, Mr Ndukwe described the incident as “totally unacceptable.”

The police spokesperson said he had informed the X user over the phone after the recovery of the money that the refund by the operatives was not enough.

“The police officers involved will have to dance to the music they turned on,” he vowed.

“We don’t have a place for this in the Nigeria Police Force.”