Youths cry out over alleged extortion, phone search by Police

Some youths in Delta state have raised the alarm over the resurgence of phone searches and alleged extortion by operatives of the Special Anti-Cult Unit, SACU and those of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad.

Some of those who claimed to be victims expressed surprise that the SACU, created to curb cultism, had deviated from its primary purpose, alleging that they were extorting money from young men driving on DLA and Okpanam roads, reports Saturday Vanguard.

One of the victims who gave his name simply as Lexxy, said, “These special squads park their Sienna car without plate number on the road. They are usually armed and clad with SACU crested jackets on their uniforms. One faithful day, I was coming from Abraka to Asaba with my younger sister. Immediately I got to Asaba, very close to the Waste Industry where they transform waste into products, we saw the Anti Kidnapping squad in a white Nissan. They flagged my car, and asked me to come down and open my boot, which I did.

“They did not even ask for my document. One of them collected my car key, used it to lock my car and went about with his stop-and-search routine job.

“When I demanded to know why he stopped and locked my car, another officer told me I was disturbing an officer on duty. Efforts to explain my predicament to them fell on deaf ears. They drove my sister and I including two other persons they stopped, to the command headquarters.

“On arrival at the command, they started interrogating each of us. They took my phone and my sister’s , depriving us of contacting anyone.

“They did not even ask for my driver’s license or any other document. I had to pay N100,000 when they threatened to put my sister and me in the cell.”

Also sharing his ordeal with our correspondent, Mr Jeff Monday, a Realtor, said “Policemen attached to SACU stopped me on Ogwashi-Uku road, demanding for my driving documents which I showed them, and they affirmed everything was alright. But they accused me of being a yahoo boy and took me to their office.

“They took my phone, and checked my bank transactions, where they saw payment on a parcel of land I sold. They detained me for the rest of the day and released me after collecting N300,000 from me. My second encounter was at Coker junction.

“I was reversing when some SACU members pointed a gun at me, asking how I got the money to buy a car. I told them I’m in my early 30s.

“They called me a yahoo boy again, took my key, drove my car to their station, and collected N200,000 from me.”

A phone dealer, who gave his name as Azuka, corroborated the claim of alleged harassment by SACU officers. He said, “Last month (June) on my birthday, I was coming from an orphanage home where I went to make some presentations when I met these policemen standing on the road with SACU crested jackets. They flagged me. I expected them to request my vehicle’s documents, but instead, they seized my car and drove me to their office.

“On arrival, they took my phone and started checking it. They asked me to pay. I insisted I won’t. They were about throwing me into the cell when I yielded to their demand. But they declined making transfer from my phone, insisting I used the POS. Many POS operators are very close to their office. One of the officers accompanied to operators where I withdrew N300,000.”

When our correspondent contacted spokesman of the Delta State Police Command, SP Bright Edafe, on the development, he said, “The office they are making reference to is not the Special Anti-Cultism Squad office. My office is just two poles away. If they encountered such harassment, what stopped them from coming to my office to lodge a complaint? Please direct them to me to assess the situation”, he said.

Going by the Command’s spokesman’s advice, one of the victims, Azuka, who claimed SACU officers forced him to transfer N300,000, visited force office on Thursday, July 11, 2024, at about 2pm, to lodge an official complaint.

Our correspondent was informed that he was taken to the Anti-Kidnapping office where it was discovered that an official statement was not taken from him, neither was it incidented on the counter as expected. He was however instructed to come back next week, after the local government election in the state, with an assurance to refund his money if he could identify the policemen that extorted him.