Police boss warns officers over indiscriminate searching of bags, mobile devices

The Kwara State Police Commissioner, Mr. Tuesday Assayomo, has warned men of the command over incessant and indiscriminate searching of bags, expensive telephones, handsets and laptops of young ones suspected to be “Yahoo boys” in the state.

The warning might not be unconnected with the series of attack on innocent students and travellers plying all major roads in the state.

It was gathered that some innocent students and travellers have been molested by the officers of the state police command during journeys on the roads in the state.

Sources close to the command said some of the men of the command were allegedly with the Point of Service (POS) machine on the road to defraud innocent students whenever they ordered them to open their telephones and discovered a large sum of money in their banks’ App.

Those sources added that the series of reports on the activities of the officers of the command on the road, prompted the state police commissioner to take this decision to prevent breakdown of law and order.

However, a statement that was issued yesterday and signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, Kwara State, Mr. Ajayi Okasanmi, said: “The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Police Command, CP. Assayomo is miffed by reports reaching him of the incessant and indiscriminate search, menace of expensive telephone handsets and laptops of young persons suspected to be ‘Yahoo Boys’ by policemen in the state is becoming unacceptable.

“The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Police Command, has therefore, directed that henceforth policemen are out rightly forbidden from searching of phones and laptops of persons at random, except the telephone and laptops are product of investigation approves by the commissioner of police himself.

“Members of the public are hereby advised to report any contrary action against this order to the Commissioner of Police through the following dedicated phone numbers 08033454228 08032365122 and 08125275046.

“The commissioner of police further advises members of the public to be law abiding and eschew every form of violence,” he said.

(THISDAY)