By Ifeanyi Okolie

On Tuesday July 19, 2011, Chinedu Chiedozie had strolled leisurely into an Ago-Okota branch of a second generation bank in Lagos State, where he had gone to receive money sent to him from a sister residing abroad.

Filled with optimism once inside the banking hall, the 32-year-old man walked straight to the counter bearing a Western Union sign, and a young-male banker, fully kitted in the compulsory banking attire, rose spontaneously from a swiveling chair and attended to him in a manner that could be described as friendly.

After providing all necessary documents needed for Western Union transactions, Chinedu peacefully received over $ 1200 in cash sent to him by his younger sister residing at the United State of America for an urgent family need.

Filled with joy, as he walked happily out of the banking premises, little did he know that his joy would turn into sadness, as he was accosted by two men in their mid thirties, who subsequently identified themselves as policemen from Ago-Okota station.

They inquired what he was carrying and he told them that it was money gotten from the Western Union and the policemen then asked, how he got it?

He explained that it was sent to him by his sister living abroad but the policemen ignored him and whisked him into a waiting van from where they later took him and some other people arrested around the banking premise, to Ago-Okota Police station.

•Yakubu Alkali, CP, Lagos State & •Hafiz Ringimm, IGP

At the police station, he was accused of obtaining the said money fraudulently, and he was detained for close to five hours. At last, the police asked him to leave, but that was not after they had dispossessed him of all the money.

Chinedu, who is a trader at the popular Trade Fare market told Crime Alert that he suspected that some bank officials were involved, “ It was like a dream, when I lost $ 1200 to those policemen and I suspect some bank officials were involved, because how did the police men know I had a Western Union transaction.

First, they accused me of defrauding someone abroad and I told them that it was absolutely impossible because the name of the sender was that of a woman and it was a native Nigerian name, which could not have been faked by me.

And when they discovered that I’d skipped off their grip, they changed their allegation and said I belong to an international fraud syndicate that operate within Nigeria and other parts of the world and the name of the person that sent the money have been on the police watch list for a long time.

They acted as if they were making calls and they later told me that they have been instructed to transfer me to State Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), in Ikeja where I will be tortured and made to confess of being a fraudster. I was kept in a dark cell for more than five hours and I became very scared.

But one of them later walked to me and said that someone have been begging on my behalf and that they will only let me go if I will part with the money, since I’d denied being part of any fraud syndicate. I had no other option that to consent to their offer, because refusal to do so might risk taking me to the dreaded State SARS for torture the next day.

Now, the whole essence of receiving that money have been lost. Our family house in the village, which is due for renovation, is still there and my sister is very scared of sending more money. I wonder why people could be this cruel and heartless.”

But when Crime Alert met with the bank Manger, at the bank where Chinedu carried out his Western Union transactions, he gave a shocking explanation that did little to exonerate the bank officials of complicity in the criminal deal.

According to the Manager who craved for anonymity, “the said Chinedu, was not the only person who was quizzed by the police over Western Union transactions around our banking premises.

It is a normal occurrence and Chinedu is not the only person the police have whisked around the area. They often pick a lot of people but I really don’t know how they could possibly identify victims.”

When told that some of his staff might be involved in the deal, he reacted by saying, “I am not sure they are involved, but what I can really tell you is that, we suspect that some policemen, pretending to be customers, loiter around the banking hall like any other customer with a meaningful business with the bank.

They would contact their colleagues outside to notify them on any person having a western union transaction. One other thing is that we find it very difficult identifying these people who loiter around the area.

We can’t start harassing people in our bank in other to identify police informants and we cant also stop the police from doing their job out side our bank.” he explained.

Meanwhile, Chinedu is not alone in this case, a lot of people had suffered similar fate on the hands of policemen from virtually all the police stations in Lagos state. However, the notorious ones amongst them, according to victims that spoke with Crime Alert are; Festac, Lion building, Ikeja, Isolo Alakara and Onipanu Police Stations.

Some of the victims also told Crime Alert that they have been harassed and intimidated severally by policemen trying to extort money from them. They told another story that took place around Lagos Island when some policemen accosted a 24 -year- old man, Olawale Ajilor, at CMS bus stop with a brown envelop and he was promptly accused of carrying fake documents.

They stated that after a long while, the hapless man was whisked to lion building police station where he was asked to pay N30,000 for bail. “We should have a more civilized police force that would not harass and intimidate innocent Nigerians they find on the streets”. Olawale said. “We have suffered a lot in the hands of these policemen and we expect them to change and treat us like normal human beings.”

The Lagos State Police spokesman, Samuel Jinadu, when contacted explained that the command is not aware of policemen extorting people on the road.

“ Though we have some of our men around strategic areas in the state to carry out stop and search duties, but we are not aware if they are extorting money.

We urge anyone who have been harassed by any of the Policemen to report at the human right desk which abound in all the Police stations in the state.”