The Anambra State Police Command has launched a manhunt for a yet-to-be-identified officer, who allegedly extorted the sum of N810,000 from a resident in the state.

The command’s spokesman, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, made this known in a statement on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.

Ikenga noted that the manhunt followed the alleged extortion of the sum of N810,000 by the police officer which had since gone viral.

The police spokesperson stated: “We have initiated steps to identify the alleged officer; information about the incident has been escalated to Area Commander, Onitsha, Anambra State, for necessary actions.

“The command also wishes to invite the victim to its Headquarters in Awka to get information that will help in facilitating the necessary procedures involved in the process.”

A human rights activist, Harrison Gwamnishu, had posted on his X account a voice note of the victim, who narrated how he was extorted of the sum of N810,000 by four police officers in Anambra State.

The victim, while narrating his ordeal in the voice note, said: “I was going to my mechanic on Friday to fix my car and they (police) stopped me at upper Iweka under the flyover.

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“They asked for my particulars and I gave them. The officer in charge said that my papers are fake; that my doctor’s report is fake. That I don’t have eye problems but I’m using a doctor’s report for the tinted glasses.

“But I have been using the doctor’s report since 2022. Yet, he said it is fake. Three of them started searching my car. They were four and I can identify four of them.

“A few seconds after they started searching my car, one of them brought out weed (Indian helm) and said it was from my car. Meanwhile, I don’t smoke and I just brought my car from a car wash. So, they planted weed in my car.

“It was just like an act of kidnapping. They collected my phone and asked me not to tell anybody where I was going. They asked me to pay N5 million, else, they would take me to Abuja. They had already printed two transfer papers to transfer me to Abuja immediately.

“I asked them what my offence was but instead, they said I should pay N2 million last. I asked them to give me my phone to call my people but they refused. I asked them to give me my phone to call who would send the money.”

He said after they return his phone to him, he called a person and inform the latter where he was.

The victim disclosed that the person brought a lawyer to the station, adding: “The lawyer came and started negotiating with them and told them that I have agreed to pay N800,000, which was not true.

“They forced me to make a video. They snapped me with the weed, forced me to say that I’m a smoker and that I’m a ‘Yahoo’ boy. They forced me to say everything, and they recorded me and kept it.

“One of them removed his uniform, put on a mufti and followed me outside to force me to withdraw N900,000 first because they checked my account balance through my bank app on my phone.

“They wanted me to go to the bank to transfer N1 million from the bank. It was when I went outside that I had the chance to call somebody and I told him I was in trouble.

“They noticed it and they all became angry and asked me why I called somebody. They threatened to deal with me and finish me and end my life.

“A few minutes later, the lawyer came out and they took N800,000 from my account. I paid N800,000 to a POS outside and gave them cash before they released me and my car.”

The receipt included in the post by Gwamnishu showed a transfer of N810,000 to a Moniepoint POS operator.

The Star