The arrested officers were said to have picked the men from Omoluwabi in the Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area of the state, tagged them ‘Yahoo boys’ and took them to Delta State where they reportedly dispossessed them of the said amount after detaining them for two days.
It was learnt that the cops arrested the men on July 31, 2023, and released them on August 1, 2023, after collecting the money.
The State Commissioner of Police, Emeka Nwonyi, while parading the arrested officers at a news briefing in Port Harcourt, on Monday, said he was working hard to rid the command of bad eggs.
“You can see some police officers have been in detention for more than two weeks now for an offence.
“They are not from this command, but we arrested them to show that we are here to purge ourselves.
“I don’t think any other organisation has been more purgative like the police in cleaning up bad eggs in their system and I stand to be challenged on that,” he stated.
Even though the state police boss was silent on the sum involved and on the identities of officers arrested, our correspondent who had been following the incident gathered that the amount was N6.5 million.
Similarly, CP Nwonyi paraded another set of four officers, including three Inspectors arrested and detained for allegedly assaulting a female commuter.
He said the officers were on a stop and search operation when they allegedly assaulted the lady around Arcania junction, Ada George Road, Port Harcourt on Sunday.
Emeka said upon receiving a complaint of assault, his men swung into action and rounded up the accused officers, adding that an investigation had been launched to unravel what actually transpired.
He stated, “On Sunday, 3rd of September, 2023, at about 10.20 hours, based on complaint of unprofessional conduct and incivility to members of the public on social media by the officers of the Nigerian Police force, Rivers State command, where a woman was allegedly assaulted by Policemen on stop and search duty at Arcania junction on Ada George, Port Harcourt.
“Upon receipt of the complaint, the commander of the CP monitoring unit swung into action and identified the officers as men of an anti-cultism unit on stop and search led by Inspector.
“Agba Emmanuel, and three others namely; Inspector Abgani Peter, Inspector Ozenewa Amadi and Sargeant Akuigbo Batholomeo.
“They have all been arrested and in custody undergoing interrogation. Also, I am appealing to the lady who was assaulted to come to my command and give us her own side of the incident for proper investigation to be carried out
“Security is everyone’s business, curbing crime in our society is everybody’s responsibility. Once again, I want to assure you that we fight crime to a standstill to the best of our ability and I also want to welcome members of the public to the Rivers State zero crime, it’s a must.
“We must fight, a crime against the citizens is a crime against all of us. The policemen here are determined for that.”
