Four Policemen, Three LASTMA Officials Arrested For Extortion

CYRIACUS IZUEKWE

The police have arrested four police officers and three LASTMA men for extortion in Lagos.

P.M.EXPRESS reports that this was disclosed by the Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Chike Oti, on behalf of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Imohimi Edgal.
He said that the attention of the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, was on Tuesday 30^th October, 2018, drawn to a publication on page 19 of The Nation Newspaper, of same date, captioned “Police as cesspit of corruption”.

The reporter drew attention to the underhand dealings of some policemen he ran into on his way to FESTAC town Lagos. He alleged that the men took him to First Gate of Festac Town which they had turned to an extortion point.
Sequel to the information gained from the publication, the CP directed the Area Commander in-charge of Area E, FESTAC, ACP Yusuf Ajape, and the officer in charge of the Command  X-Squad Section, SP Aliu Abubakar, to carry out a covert operation around the aforementioned location leading to the arrest of the following policemen and Lagos State Traffic Management Agency officials (LASTMA ):  Inspector Charles Omokaro, Inspector Idara Akai, Sergeant Chidi Mordi and Sergeant Joseph Bernard.  LASTMA officials: Mr. Sam Adekunle, Mr. Omolaja Ige and Mrs. Modinat Folashade.

They were said to have been caught while trying to extort one Mr. Waheed Lamidi, who they gave a Diamond Bank account number 0020558133, titled Femi Adebanji, to transfer the sum of seventy-five thousand Naira only (N75,000.00) when he complained that he had no cash.

The Lagos CP has directed that the suspects be brought to the Command Headquarters, X-Squad Section, for thorough investigation and appropriate disciplinary action if found guilty. In the same vein, the CP said that the Command will always welcome opinions, comments and  criticism geared towards helping the Force get rid of bad eggs in its midst and improve service delivery and not comments designed to debase or ridicule the Force.