THE Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has commenced an investigation of officers caught on camera extorting money from a resident of the city.
This was disclosed in a statement released on Wednesday by the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the command Josephine Adeh.
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“The FCT Commissioner of Police CP Sunday Babaji, psc has ordered the immediate arrest and investigation of Police officers in the viral extortion video.
“Following the above, the officers who were on traffic duty along Area 11, where a young man whose identity is yet to be identified was intercepted and extorted, have been taken into custody and are currently under investigation towards unravelling facts surrounding the situation.”
According to the statement, Babaji had described the attitude of the officers as ‘a discreditable conduct, an act unbecoming of police officers,’ and noted that disciplinary action would be taken against the erring officers.
The command, therefore, urged residents of the FCT with relevant information on the victim in the video to provide his contact details to aid further investigations.
“The Command wishes to call on anyone who has a way of reaching out to the young man in the video to avail the Command with his contact details or to relay a message of invitation to the Public Relations Officer of the Command,” it read.
Adeh further urged residents of the FCT to report misconducts of Police officers to the Public Complaints Bureau.
“The CP, while registering the assurance of the Command’s unflinching commitment towards service in line with standard best practices, wishes to remind residents of the availability of the Public Complaints Bureau line: 0902 222 2352, a number specially created for members of the public to report any unprofessional conduct of Police officers while discharging their duties,” it read.
A video in which officers of the FCT Police Command extorted money from a commuter at Area 11, Abuja, went viral earlier this week.
In the video, the victim had withdrawn some money from a GT Bank ATM located within the area and was seen handing the cash to some Police officers waiting by a Police van parked across the street.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.