Police dismiss three officers for kidnapping, extorting N1.7 million from man at gunpoint

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The police in Imo State, South-east Nigeria, have dismissed three officers over alleged kidnapping, extorting of N1.7 million and car snatching in the state.

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The dismissed officers are Gift Ekwueme and Ikechukwu Eto, who were sergeants.

The third dismissed officer, Divine Okwuaru, was a corporal.

The police spokesperson in Imo State, Henry Okoye, told the Punch newspaper that the officers were dismissed after being found guilty of the offences at an orderly room trial.

“After we received the complaint, the police swung into investigation.

“They were arrested, detained, faced an orderly room trial, and after they were found guilty, they were dismissed and the Imo commissioner of police ratified it,” he said.

“They are now ex-policemen. They will be arraigned in the law court for prosecution.”

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How the officers allegedly engaged in kidnapping, armed robbery

Mr Okoye, a deputy superintendent of police, said the officers were accused of kidnapping and extorting N1.7 million from a resident, Obinna Egbu, in Owerri on 8 February.

The spokesperson said the officers were said to have carried out the extortion at gunpoint while posing as members of the police Anti-Kidnapping Unit alongside.

He said the now dismissed officers carried out the alleged offences alongside a driver, Alex Chukwu, a civilian.

Mr Okoye said the new Commissioner of Police in Imo State, Garba Bosso, has warned that he will not tolerate any form of corruption, high-handedness, and professional misconduct from officers in the state.

He said Mr Bosso warned that officers who engage in misconduct will be sanctioned appropriately.

Not the first time

Cases of police brutality, extortion, extrajudicial killings and other unprofessional activities in Nigeria have continued despite sanctions by police authorities, such as dismissal from service.

The latest incident occurred about one month after police operatives shot dead a private motorcyclist in Ebonyi, another state in the South-east.

In November 2024, police operatives from the Crack Squad in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State shot dead a labourer and critically injured three others in the state.

A similar incident happened in the same Abakaliki in 2018 when a police officer shot and killed a commercial motorcyclist for allegedly refusing to give him N50 bribe.

In August 2024, police operatives in Bayelsa State extorted N3 million from a Nigerian man at gunpoint.

The officers were subsequently arrested after the victim petitioned police authorities.

The police operatives later returned the N3 million to the victim, about three weeks later.