Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu

• N185,000 ransom recovered
Oluwatosin Omojuyigbe

The Lagos State Police Command said on Wednesday that it had arrested the cops, who abducted a fashion designer, Joseph Ejiro, and recovered the N185,000 extorted from him.

PUNCH Metro had reported how Ejiro was allegedly abducted by the policemen attached to the Festac Police Post and made to pay a ransom of N185,000 before he was released.

Ejiro had gone to make a delivery to his client in Festac on November 21, when he was accosted around the Second Rainbow junction by one of the cops, who said his boss was waiting in a vehicle to see him.

In a series of tweets on Tuesday, Ejiro alleged that he was pushed into the vehicle and beaten by the cops when he refused to give them his phone, adding that he was asked to pay N500,000 to secure his release.

Ejiro further alleged that he was made to transfer the sum of N185,000 to an account provided by one of the cops before he was released after spending eight hours in their custody.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, had asked the fashion designer to come to the command headquarters in Ikeja with details of the incident and promised that the matter would be investigated.

Elkana told our correspondent on Wednesday that the state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, had ordered that the cops must be fished out, adding that they had been identified and were in custody.

He added that the money extorted from the fashion designer had also been recovered and would be returned to him.

He said, “The fashion designer came and we listened to him and the CP gave an order that the policemen should be fished out within 24 hours and that was done. We identified them; we have five of them in custody.

“The fashion designer and the police officers have made statements and we have commenced investigation into the matter. We have recovered the N185,000, which will be handed over to Ejiro.”