DPO Removes Parked Vehicles Used By Officers For Extortion

CYRIACUS IZUEKWE

The Divisional Police Officer, DPO, Igando Division, Mr. E. Yerima, stopped the sharp practices by some officers after he ordered the removal of vehicles said to be used for extorting money from suspects at the station.

P.M.EXPRESS confirmed this from residents who commended the DPO for taking such a step to check the activities of the officers that were perceived to have dented the image of the police.
It was gathered that the DPO was brought to the Division and he discovered that they had turned the vehicles parked within the station as offices. They were said to have used them to intimidate and extort money from suspects without bringing the matter to the station.

P.M.EXPRESS scooped that the end of the era came when they arrested one of the students of LASU and detained him inside one of the vehicles accusing him to be a fraudster. The officers in question threatened to send him to prison if he did not contact his parents to bring money to bail him. Unknown to the officers, the student was the son of a top senior citizen and the whole matter turned against the officers in question.
When the matter got to the DPO, he inquired if such incident was registered in crime diary at the station counter and there was no such report. It was then that it was revealed that they had turned the vehicles as offices both inside and in front of the police station. Thus, the DPO ordered the removal of the vehicles and cleaned up the place to the delight of the residents.

According to the residents, sanity has gradually returned to the police station and most of the officers were trying hard to adjust to the new development.
When our correspondent visited Igando Division, the place was wearing a new look as the vehicles had been removed and cleaned up even beyond the station.

The residents still expect the DPO and his officers to do something to reduce the rate of crime in the area especially local fraud, burglary and equally stopping criminals especially armed robbers from using Igando as exit point.

When the DPO was contacted, he declined to speak and referred our correspondent to the PPRO for any enquiry. Some of the officers in the Division however confirmed the development and claimed that the decision was a good one in order to separate the good officers from the perceived corrupt ones who had engaged in the alleged extortion that dented the image of the police.