An official of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been arrested by the anti-graft agency for extorting about $150,000 from some military officers.
The operative, Abdulrahman Mohammed Biu, was arrested on Monday for extortion, influence peddling and impersonation after he collected the money from the military officers ostensibly to help them get a soft landing in the investigations into the arms purchase scandal.
A statement issued on Friday by the commission’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, said that Biu, a Deputy Detective Superintendent, DDS, dropped the names of senior officials, on whose behalf he claimed he was working, to convince the affected military officers to part with varying sums of money.
According to Uwujaren, a search in Biu’s house led to the discovery incriminating evidence against him, including police uniforms, a police identification card as well as account details of the officers.
“Upon his arrest, a search was executed on his residence in Abuja where the following items were recovered: $20,000 cash, N500, 000 cash, two police uniforms bearing his name with the ranks of Deputy Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent, Police warrant card No: 27/2014 with the rank of DSP allegedly obtained from Kano Constabulary office, documents relating to military arms investigation and account information of several senior military officers,” the EFCC statement read.
It was also gathered that an “unbranded pistol with a magazine and ten live ammunitions” were also recovered for Biu’s car which was parked in the commission’s premises.
A source in the EFCC told our reporter that the arrested operative was not involved in the investigations into the arms deal for which former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and a host of others are being prosecuted.
Even then, he posed as a member of the investigating team, dropping the names of other genuine investigators.
The source added that Biu had not even been involved in any serious investigations because he had “serious medical challenge as he once had a spinal injury.”
He is said to have made useful statements to his interrogators.