A video clip circulating on social media has shown some Nigerian police operatives counting naira notes inside a police pick-up truck stationed along the road at Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria’s South-south.
Many Nigerians who commented on the clip believed that the cash was the proceeds of a bribe or extortion.
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In the clip, one of the operatives sitting at the back of the truck is seen counting the money carefully, while the others sit patiently. All the operatives wore their service uniform. They were unaware that they were being filmed.
The police authorities in Delta announced on Tuesday that the operatives in the “embarrassing” video have been identified and arrested.
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“The policemen in the embarrassing video have been identified and arrested,” Bright Edafe, the police spokesperson in Delta, said in a post on X.
“They appeared before the CP (commissioner of police) today. The four personnel, two of them who are senior officers, have been queried, while the two inspectors have been detained and awaiting an orderly room trial,” said Mr Edafe, a superintendent of police.
The police spokesperson uploaded a photo of the four police operatives on the microblogging platform without revealing their faces.
Cases of police extortion
There are many recorded cases of police extortion in Nigeria.
In June this year, the Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, Ikioye Orutugu, ordered the detention of three police inspectors for allegedly extorting a man.
About four months before the Anambra incident, the police authorities in Imo State launched an investigation into the alleged extortion and assault of a couple by operatives in the state.
The Imo extortion incident occurred less than one week after police authorities began interrogation of officers who were filmed assaulting a man in Abia State.
In February, police authorities in Abia State dismissed three officers for allegedly engaging in abduction and extortion.
In October, last year, police in Ebonyi began an orderly room trial of officers filmed extorting motorists in the state.
Within the same period, the police in Imo State began another orderly room trial of four officers seen in a viral video clip extorting motorists in the state.
About three months earlier, 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
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