The pregnant wife, a lawyer, who confirmed the arrest to SaharaReporters, said the operatives invaded their house in Awgu, Awgu local government area of State on Thursday evening, around 5pm and arrested her husband.
The operatives of the Enugu State Police Command have again arrested an anti-corruption activist, Mr Charles Arukwe, in desperate efforts to silence him for exposing police extortion involving senior police officers in the command.
Arukwe, who was released from Enugu Custodial Centre on March 28 after the State High Court granted him bail on trump-up charges bordering on forgery of a motorcycle sale agreement, was again arrested on Thursday evening by over 10 policemen allegedly from the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID).
The pregnant wife, a lawyer, who confirmed the arrest to SaharaReporters, said the operatives invaded their house in Awgu, Awgu local government area of State on Thursday evening, around 5pm and arrested her husband.
According to her, "despite offering no resistance to arrest, the officers tortured and brutalised him even on handcuffs before whisking away. While they took him away, some came back, broke our doors, took my laptops, academic certificates, ransacked the house and took other valuables including my android phone. They suspected that I might have used it to take their pictures and videos.
"At point of his arrest he requested to know why he was being arrested but the operatives did not provide any reason instead one of them hit him with a gun like a common criminal. The Police Act requires policemen to inform anyone being arrested of reason while he is being arrested and where he is being taken to. There was no warrant of arrest.
"My husband is on court bail after spending over three months in custody on a trump-up charge. After he was released the police abandoned the case. We are still waiting for the report of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP)."
Meanwhile, SaharaReporters gathered that Arukwe is currently being detained by the Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT) which is the former notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS).
SaharaReporters reported on April 5, how Awgu Chief Magistrate Court of Enugu State Magisterial District granted Arukwe bail after spending nearly a month in prison custody for alleged forgery after exposing police extortion.
It was reported on March 19 that the Enugu State Police Command had arrested, brutalised, arraigned, and remanded in prison custody the rights activist, accusing him of forging a motorcycle sale agreement.
A police source had told SaharaReporters that Arukwe was arrested following his consistent petitions against the police operatives attached to the Awgu police station over unbridled extortion of money from residents over the years.
In a three-count charge marked MGB/13c/2023, which SaharaReporters obtained, the police accused Arukwe of forging a motorcycle sale agreement, an allegation the lawyer who prepared the agreement has faulted.
The charge was first taken before a Senior Magistrate, His Worship Jude Umezulike on January 8, 2023, and he rejected it for lack of evidence to support the charge.
However, the police brought the charge up again before Magistrate P.U. Igwiloh, who remanded the activist in custody on Friday, March 15, 2024, despite openly stating in the courtroom that there was no evidence of forgery.
Meanwhile, SaharaReporters' efforts to speak with the State Police Command on the reasons behind the current arrest, were unsuccessful as the Command's spokesperson, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, could not take his calls nor respond to a text message for inquiry.
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