Police return N3 million extorted by officers from Nigerian at gunpoint

The police have returned the N3 million which some officers allegedly extorted from a Nigerian man in Bayelsa State, south-south Nigeria.

The extortion

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported how some police operatives allegedly extorted the money from the Nigeria man, Kelechi Isaac, at gunpoint on 26 August at Odi area of Bayelsa State.

Mr Isaac, who is based in Ghana, hails from Nguru Nworie, a community in Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo state, Nigeria’s south-east.

The victim narrated that five police operatives flagged down his vehicle while he was driving back from a marriage ceremony with two of his friends.

He said the operatives subsequently forced him at gunpoint to transfer the N3 million to two separate bank accounts.

Arrest of the officers

The police spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi,  last week, confirmed that the operatives who carried out the extortion had been arrested.

“The policemen involved in this case of extortion of N3 million have been arrested,” he had said.

Mr Adejobi, an assistant commissioner of police, said the operatives were attached to Zone 16 headquarters in Bayelsa State.

Meanwhile, Mr Isaac said that on 5 September, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 16 Headquarters, Paul Omata, informed him that the money had been recovered from the operatives.

But PREMIUM TIMES reliably gathered that the police, after the recovery, did not immediately return the money to the victim.

This followed a disagreement between Mr Isaac and authorities of Zone 16 Police Headquarters over where the money would be picked after the victim expressed concerns about his safety in the South-south state.

‘They have given me the money’

But Mr Isaac told PREMIUM TIMES on Friday night that he has now collected the money.

“They have given me the money today. (I am) just coming in from Bayelsa now,” he said in a WhatsApp message to this reporter.

The victim said that, against his wishes, the police authorities returned the money to him in cash, but he insisted on getting a Point of Sale (POS) machine operator to transfer the money to his bank account.

“They did (the handover in cash), but after the handover I refused to touch the cash, insisting they get a POS agent to take the cash and transfer it to me, which they did,” he stated.