The Rivers State Police Command has arrested six of its operatives captured in a viral video assaulting a motorist on the outskirts of Port Harcourt, the state capital.
Police spokesperson, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the development in an interview on Thursday, noting that the officers have been detained and will face an orderly room trial.
In the viral video, the victim was seen with blood streaming from his head down his face and clothing. He recounted that the policemen stopped his vehicle, demanding a tinted glass permit, which he explained had been delayed at the issuing agency.
According to him, the officers ignored his explanation, dragged him and his brother, and assaulted a female companion who was with them. He alleged that the policemen accused them of being criminals, demanded ₦1 million, and later struck him on the head with an object.
“They (the policemen) are taking my vehicle to the station for no reason. They said we are criminals. The girl who was with us was well beaten and stripped.
“They said I should give them N1m because I didn’t have a tinted permit. I told them I didn’t have that kind of money and that I had gone to the Internal Revenue Service, but was told their machine was bad.
“I begged that I had N20,000 to give to them. My brother, who was with me, was slapped by them, and he fell. They dragged me, and I asked them what my offence was. Before I knew it, they hit me on my head. I fell and was covered in blood all over my body,” he said.
Iringe-Koko explained that both the victim and the accused officers were brought before the Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Adepoju, who ordered the detention of the six operatives and directed his monitoring team to conduct a full-scale investigation.
She added, “The six policemen and the victim came to the CP and said their sides of the story. The CP then ordered the detention of the six policemen and that they should be tried. The CP asked his monitoring team to carry out a full-scale investigation on the matter.”
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