Trouble started for the policemen after they sighted a car while on a ‘Stop and Search’ duty along Bode Thomas Street and accused the driver of being a fraudster. Although the driver, who was in the car with a friend tried to deny the allegations, but a bank alert, which came into his phone while the argument was still on, belied his claims.
Rather than arrest him, the policemen insisted they wanted a piece of the action. They followed the suspect to the nearest First Bank branch in the area to withdraw some money. The policemen would have made away with the money, but for the Close Circuit Television (CCTV), in the banking hall which recorded the transaction.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, was said to have been furious with the policemen that he ordered for their arrest and orderly room trial. They were subsequently later dismissed and charged with armed robbery. A police source said that the suspected fraudster was driving a Honda Accord car (End of Discussion), white in colour, when he was flagged down by the policemen.
The policemen carried out a search of the car. They accused the driver and his occupants of being cyber fraudsters, but they denied. The policemen seized their phones and ATM cards. The source said: “Unfortunately for the driver, at that precise moment, a bank alert entered his phone. The alert allegedly implicated them as being cyber fraudsters. The policemen were happy. They asked the suspects the meaning of such an alert. The suspects started begging. The policemen said they would collect N1m or arrest them.”
It was gathered that while this haggling with the suspects was going on, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), who was in charge of the team, sat in the police patrol van with the police driver, unaware that his men were making a deal that would change their lives. After haggling and begging, the policemen agreed to accept N350, 000. The driver told the policemen that he wouldn’t be able to withdraw N350, 000 with his ATM card. He said that he needed to go to bank to make withdrawal.
One of the policemen, Okechukwu, said he would go with him. The police source said: “Before leaving for the bank, Okechukwu went and changed from his uniform, into a mufti. He went to his team leader, the ASP, who was inside the patrol van, to tell him that he needed a few minutes break. All this while, he held unto the ATM cards and phones of the suspects. He didn’t want them to escape. He followed them to the nearest First bank branch there. The driver first used his ATM card to withdraw some money, but he couldn’t get up to N350, 000; he decided to cash the rest over the counter.
Okechukwu followed him into the banking hall. After the driver collected the money, he handed it over to Okechukwu, but Okechukwu refused to collect it. He wanted to know if the money was complete.
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