SaharaReporters gathered that the incident, which took place along the Asaba International Airport, ended up with the IGP squad transferring back the money into the account of the victim following the swift intervention of the Executive Director of Behind Bars Human Rights Foundation, Harrison Gwamnishu.
The Inspector-General of Police Special Tactical Squad, Delta State command, was on Saturday caught by members of Behind Bars Human Rights Foundation after extorting N1.2m from an innocent victim.
SaharaReporters gathered that the incident, which took place along the Asaba International Airport, ended up with the IGP squad transferring back the money into the account of the victim following the swift intervention of the Executive Director of Behind Bars Human Rights Foundation, Harrison Gwamnishu.
Narrating the incident to our correspondent, Gwamnishu said his team received a complaint from a resident of the state that he was arrested by the IGP Special Tactical Squad attached to Delta State Police Command without committing any offence.
He said, "On Saturday, we received a complaint from a Deltan that he was arrested by the IGP Special Tactical Squad attached to Delta State Police Command, Asaba, without any offence. He was arrested opposite the Asaba International Airport and his phone was seized. They denied him access to his phone but subjected him to torture.
"His phone was opened by the IGP team and they saw a balance of N1,250,000 and ordered him to pay else they kill on label him a kidnapper. No statement was taken from him, he was not even taken to any police station. After much threat, the team gave him account number and he transferred N1.2m to the team.
"When my organisation heard the story, we swung into action by first reporting to the Delta State Commissioner of Police who frowned at the development. I gave him details of the officers and he pleaded that I visit their operational base and get back to him.
"Getting to the operational base of the IGP team with the victim, the Inspector-General of Police Special Tactical Squad commander paraded his officers to the victim to identify and he identified all the team members. From there I took it up with the team after they had denied extorting N1.2m from the victim, but later accepted and the money was transferred back to the victim's account immediately."
While drawing the attention of the IGP to the criminal activities of some of his police officers, Gwamnishu condemned the act and demanded the immediate prosecution of the corrupt police officers in court.
In the transaction details seen by our correspondent, the team made the transfer of the N1.2m back to the victim from three different bank accounts in three installments of N500,000, N500,000 and N200,000 while in a video recorded in the operational office of the IGP team obtained by SaharaReporters, the team was seen and heard appealing to Gwamnishu to cover up their crime.
Efforts to speak with the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Onome Onovwakpoyeya, on the issue were unsuccessful as calls to her mobile number went unanswered.