By Tina Amanda
Two Police Officers of the Rivers State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) were arrested and detained a few days after the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, cautioned over extortion and other criminal activities of SARS Officials in some parts of the state.
According to the report, the Police Officers were arrested following a complaint posted by one of the victims of extortion through a twitter account, tagging the Police Force Spokesperson, CSP Prince Olumuyiwa Adejobi.
CSP Adejobi had, upon receipt of the complaint from the victim, tweeted, “PPRO Rivers, come up and take up this case while we do the needful from Abuja. By now, we are not expected to see still or hear Policemen searching people’s phones on the road after several warnings from the IGP”.
The Rivers State Police Command Public Relations officer, SP Grace Iringe Koko, had, in a tweet in response to the instruction of the Force PPRO, confirmed the arrest of one of the Police Officers but did not state the unit they were serving or the amount recovered.
In her response tweet, “Good evening Sir, the Officer in this post has been arrested and detained, an investigation is ongoing, I urge the complainant to come and facilitate the investigation process for us to give feedback to members of the public.
“Sir@LifeofNapaul, you said you are no longer interested in this matter of alleged extortion you reported through this medium while the Commissioner of Police Rivers State command is fully interested and insists that you should avail us with your email address”, SP Koko added.
The victim, Napaul, had narrated that while on his way to PortHarcourt via public transport, the Police Officers stopped them and all the occupants in the vehicle were searched; their Whatsapp chats were opened one after the other, every app installed in each phone was searched, and the Police Officers found nothing.
He said the Police Officers asked the commercial vehicle’s driver to go with the female passengers while four male passengers were left behind.
He disclosed further that the Police Officers held them for about 90 minutes, and they were left to go when one of the Officers gave them an account number to transfer money into the account before they were released.
Some Nigerians who reacted on Twitter have called on the Inspector General of Police to overhaul the unit/department whose personnel are responsible for the resurgence of SARS activities which has attracted the attention of the Rivers State Governor.
