Four elderly residents of Lagos have accused operatives of the Morogbo Police Division of extorting a total of N222,000 from them following their arrest during a night raid in Badagry area of the state, ENigeria Newspaper has learnt.
The men said they were picked up alongside other residents on March 8 and detained for several days before allegedly being forced to pay varying sums for their release.
Spokesperson for the group, Sunday Kalu, told Metro journalists that the the incident occurred around 9 p.m. while they were seated outside their residence due to heat, when officers stormed the area and began making arrests.
“There was intense heat in the house, so we stepped outside that Sunday night when officers from the Morogbo Division in Badagry arrived and started arresting people,” Kalu said.
“There were four of us in front of our house. We tried to explain, but they refused to listen. They forced us into their vehicle and took us to the station.”
Kalu said about 18 people were arrested during the operation, adding that they were initially detained overnight before being moved the next day to another police unit.
“They didn’t allow us to speak. About 18 people were arrested in total, but only four of us were picked up from our compound. We were later taken to PPL, where we were asked to pay money for our release,” he said.
According to him, the victims were released on March 11 after spending four days in detention and paying N67,000, N75,000, N50,000, and N30,000 respectively.
No official response is yet to come from the Morogbo Police Division of Badagry or the Lagos State Police Command yet as at the time of this report.
