Extortion: Lagos CP orders immediate removal of Meiran DPO

The Lagos state commissioner of Police, CP Idowu Owohunwa has ordered the immediate removal of the Divisional Police Officer of Meiran Police Station
for leadership dereliction and supervisory ineptitude.

This follows allegation from a phone dealer, Saliu, who claimed that the senior police officer extorted N200,000 from him to secure the release of his brother and himself.

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Saliu said trouble started when the policemen detained him and his brother, Olaiya Murtala, for not providing an identity card or the receipts for the iPhones found with his brother.

He said he had sent his brother to his shop with six iPhones but during a stop-and-search, the policemen intercepted and took him to the police station.

He added that when he rushed to the police station to secure his brother’s release, he was asked to provide his ID card and receipts for the phones which were not available at the time.

He explained, “I’m an engineer and I sell phones. On Saturday morning, I gave my brother five iPhones and keys to open the shop while I went to withdraw money from the bank and would join him later.

“About two hours later, he called that some policemen on patrol had collected the phones from him and taken him to the station.

Saliu added that the DPO later asked them to pay N500,000 to secure their freedom, saying that they begged him until they settled for N200,000 which the policemen insisted must be paid in cash.

According to him, one of the policemen led him to a nearby POS operator where he withdrew N182, 000 in addition to the N20,000 he had on him and handed it over to the policemen after which they were released