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Bizarre: Man Impersonates Police Officer, Steals Phone Inside Lagos Police Station
Eko Hot Blog reports that a yet-to-be-identified man has been accused of impersonating one of the policemen attached to the Idimu Police Station in Lagos State.
According to Punch, the alleged impersonator did not only assume the identity of a policeman, but he also used the con to steal the mobile phone of an artisan, Kehinde Adesina, on the premises of the station in the Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State.
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The 35-year-old artisan had been arrested by policemen attached to the station on Tuesday, June 6, for violating the traffic rule in the state.
The policemen subsequently took Adesina to the police station where they allegedly demanded N20,000 from him to release his vehicle.
While the artisan was on the premises of the station, the police impersonator approached him, introduced himself as a policeman and offered to assist him in securing the release of his vehicle.
He added that he saw the suspect go into the police station to discuss with the officers before returning, demanding N3,000 for the officers, and collecting his phone to purportedly make a call.
“When we got to the police station, the policemen asked me to pay N20,000 for my offence and later reduced it to N10,000 but I told them I don’t that amount and they asked me to leave,” Adesina told Punch.
“So, a man wearing a mufti approached and offered to help me talk to the policemen. He went into their office to discuss with them, returned and demanded N3000 for the policemen and my phone to make a call.
“When I gave him the phone, he went back into the office to meet the policemen and later came out to inform me that one of the policemen, Supol Peter, needed a recharge card. Supol Peter also came out and said I should buy Airtel and not an MTN recharge card.”
Adeshina said he quickly went to purchase the recharge card but when he returned and handed it over to Supol Peter, the suspect was nowhere to be found.
The artisan subsequently tried to write a statement for an investigation to commence on the matter but the female officers at the counter reportedly demanded N3000 before allowing him to do so.
Despite lamenting that it was a case of theft that happened at the station the policewomen ensured that he parted with N1000 before he was able to lodge a complaint and thereafter directed him to the office of the policemen who arrested him for a traffic offence in the state.
Six policemen including Supol Peter confirmed the case on Adeshina’s stolen phone.
“He (Adeshina) said the man (suspect) was his brother. It was when he brought the recharge card that I got to know that he was not. That was why we gave him the car key and we also told him to get the pack of the phone so that we can track it,” Supol Peter said.
The leader of the police squad involved in apprehending Adeshina for the traffic offence, one Baale, said the fleeing suspect almost scammed another person earlier before he stole the artisan’s phone.
The Executive Director of the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Center, Okechucku Nwanguma, described the incident as embarrassing.
“It is strange to hear this kind of story happening in a police station because I don’t know how somebody who is not a police officer would have the effrontery to go to a police station and stand there to lure people and trick them and the police will say they don’t know,” he said.
“And if such a thing has happened before and it is happening again, then I suspect insider collusion. It is embarrassing and a shame for them to say there are cases of theft in the police station. There is a possibility of an existing criminal string in the station and the higher authorities need to unravel this, including the DPO.”
Lagos State Police Command spokesman, SP Benjamin Hundeyin
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, blamed the victim for his “carelessness.”
“I don’t see anything wrong in two civilians talking in a police station. He gave someone his phone and the person went away with the phone. It’s his carelessness,” Hundeyin said.
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“We will investigate the whereabouts of the person who collected the phone and the money for him to come and tell us who exactly offered or demanded bribe between the officer and the man.”
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