Investigation has revealed how policemen attached to Harmony Squad, State Criminal Investigation Department, Kwara, extorted the sum of two million naira from a forex trader, James Karunwi, in the State.
According to the Foundation of Investigate Journalism, Karunwi narrated that he visited Ilorin, Kwara State capital, two weeks ago, and was going to a market with a friend on Thursday when a police patrol squad van showed up and officers ordered them to park their vehicle.
According to him, the police told him and his friend to turn in their phones. Jude, Taiwo, and Danjuma were three of them whom he recognized.
After going through the phones, the police took them to the SCID headquarters where they were made to write statements. Karunwi was then compelled to give the police N2 million by way of a nearby Point of Sale merchant.
“Around 12:00 pm, policemen from CID Harmony Squad stopped us along the road and searched us. Nothing was found on me during the search. Officer Jude was hot-headed; he did not relate with us well. He insisted that we go to the station.
“On arriving at the station, the lady in the car was asking what the offence was and what we did wrong.
“We submitted our phones as they requested, and they found nothing but conversations about money between my friends and me.
“Then one officer took me on a bike to a POS merchant. This merchant brought out the money he had with him and went to sort for the rest of the money because he did not have up to that. They made me transfer N2 million to the POS just like that.
“The merchant collected N22,000 as charges, while we paid the motorcyclist N1,000, and the police collected the remaining sum.
“Three IPOs counted the money in the statement room; officers Danjuma and Taiwo were among them.”
The incident has been confirmed by the spokesman for the Kwara State Police Command, Okasanmi Ajayi, who requested that the victim visit him on Saturday to identify the officers and recover his money.
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