A
33-year-old man, Austin Okwuokei, has been arrested by the Lagos State Police
Command for allegedly claiming to be a policeman and extorting money from
motorists.
Lanre
Falcao learnt that the Ogwashi-Uku Delta State indigene was apprehended by
policemen attached to the command’s monitoring team last Thursday at the
Costain Roundabout, Iponri.
The
suspect allegedly started extorting motorists in the state last year, after
arriving from Edo State, where he had his family.
The
suspect was arrested after complaints were made at the Lagos State Police Command
Headquaters, Ikeja.
Okwuokei,
in his statement to the police, allegedly confessed to the crime, saying he
bought the “police shirt” in Edo State.
He
said, “I am a married man and I came to Lagos in 2015. When I was in Edo
State, I bought the police shirt. I came to Lagos and started using it to make
money by extorting money from motorists.
“Anytime
I am on the road, I make an average of N10,000 within two hours. I actually
wanted to be a policeman, but when I failed, I started doing this. I am also a
commercial bus driver.”
The
spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, SP Dolapo Badmos, said the
command had been getting a lot of complaints from motorists and residents in
the area concerning the activities of the suspect.
She
said, “We had received a series of complaints from motorists and people living
in that area that he had been extorting money from them. The Commissioner of
Police’s monitoring unit was sent to the area to investigate and he was
arrested in the process.
“He
owned up to the crime and said he had been doing it since he came to Lagos last
year. We have declared war on people denting the image of the police and we
will make more arrests in the coming days.
“The
command hereby appeals to members of the public to be vigilant and not part
with their hard-earned money to anyone who claims to be a policeman or wears
police uniform as the leadership of the Force abhors all forms of corruption.”
Badmos
said the suspect would be arraigned in court at the end of investigations.
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