Two more victims of the rogue police team at Force Criminal Investigation Department Annex, Alagbon Close, Lagos State, that forcibly extorted N22 million worth of bitcoin from two young real estate developers in July 2021, Morakinyo Tobiloba Peter and Yusuf Samson Dayo, have emerged.
Led by Cordelia Nwawe, a Deputy Superintendent of Police with Force number 14534, the criminal team has been ‘running riot’ all across Lagos, seizing, framing and extorting innocent citizens they sense have access to good money.
Speaking to SaharaReporters on Monday, two young men who identified themselves as Oluwaseun and Majeed narrated how the police team led by Nwawe forcibly extorted N32 million worth of bitcoin from them.
The duo said they were accosted on November 9, 2021 by the policemen around Mega Chicken in Ajah and taken to FCID Alagbon.
Despite requesting to make a few phone calls to let their family members know the situation they were in, the policemen declined and instead seized their mobile phones.
Upon getting to their office, they forced the young men to provide passwords to their phones which they went on to search for several hours in a bid to find any incriminating item on them.
“On November 9, I and my friend were coming from Lagos, going back to school. When we got to Ajah, around Mega Chicken, we were stopped by some team of four guys and 2 policemen in uniform. They just double-crossed us all of a sudden. I didn’t even know the four guys are police officers because they couldn’t identify themselves. I told them to let me call my family that I have been kidnapped but the next thing I heard was that I should behave myself and shouldn’t call anybody,” one of them told SaharaReporters.
“They told the driver to keep driving until he saw a free space where he could park, so after the driver parked. They brought us out of the car and they said: who are you? Where are you coming from? Where are you going to? So the next thing, they collected our identity cards, our phones. They couldn’t collect my other phone because I hid it under the back seat cause I initially thought they were kidnappers or armed robbers.
“So from Ajah , they drove us down to Alagbon, Ikoyi where FCID station is. So on getting to the station, we were forced, threatened anden to unlock our phones. We were like why should we unlock our phones, the order has been made from above that no one should unlock their phone for anybody again. We said we are students, and also members of the Association of Hannset Hard and Software Repairers of Nigeria, Oyo State chapter and we presented our ID cards to them.”
The duo added that they were beaten after making their statements and were forced to sign statements written by the officers, alleging that they were Internet fraudsters.
“After we made our statement, the next thing I heard was a slap on my face. I was shocked, like what did we do? What’s our offence? The next thing they did was to bring out their handcuffs to cuff my friend. So they collected my own phone. They kept searching and searching. They searched everywhere and they didn’t see anything incriminating. So they told me to keep logging in to my bank accounts, my emails and some other apps. I was like why.
“So they asked my friend to open his phone too but he refused. So they tightened the handcuff to cut off his hand till he noticed blood wasn’t running through his vein again. So my friend had to unlock his phone for them. So they went to his bitcoin wallet and saw a sum of N32 million worth of bitcoin. After they saw that, they removed the handcuff from his hand, and brought a white handkerchief to wipe off the blood running from his nose because he was totally brutalised.
“In case I forget, on getting to the station at Alagbon, Ikoyi. They took us to one office, brought out a statement form asking us to write a statement about how everything went. We wrote as it happened but they slapped us and they tore it. Then we were forced and threatened to sign another one written for us stating that we were internet fraudsters.
“Then after that, they made a video recording of us saying that we were fraudsters. They then took all the money in my friend’s wallet, about N32 million. They told us they would kill us if we didn’t give them the money. They said they have killed so many people without their family members knowing.”
Following SaharaReporters story on how DSP Nwawe and her team forcefully extorted N22 milion worth of bitcoin from Peter and Dayo in July this year and the uproar that greeted that revelation, the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, recently ordered an immediate investigation into the professional misconduct and abuse of office of the police team at Alagbon led by DSP Nwawe.
EXCLUSIVE: How Under Fire Policewoman, Colleagues Accused Of Extorting N22million Bitcoin From Young Men In Lagos Forced UK Returnee To Pay $30,000 Over Fictitious Petition | Sahara Reporters https://t.co/piI8GzFIrZ pic.twitter.com/lZbGeX7uUp
— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) December 22, 2021
Force spokesperson, Frank Mba, in a statement said that a Special Investigation Panel led by DCP Olaolu Adegbite would carry out a discreet and transparent investigation into the allegation against the officers mentioned in the story by SaharaReporters.
“DSP Cordelia and the other police personnel allegedly indicted in the report have been ordered to report to the Special Investigation Panel, Force Headquarters, Abuja, on Tuesday, 21st December, 2021 to answer to the allegations against them.
“The Special Investigation Panel is headed by DCP Olaolu Adegbite of the Force Intelligence Bureau.
“The Force advices any member of the public who has had similar experiences of high-handedness or extortion by the officers in question, her team or any other officer at the FCID Alagbon to come forward with detailed information to enable the panel achieve a holistic investigation,” Mba said in the statement.
