“When they saw the receipt, they began questioning why young men like us would be buying perfumes worth N450,000…”
Policemen attached to the Lagos State Police Command extorted N407,000 from three men in the Opebi area of Lagos on Thursday, FIJ has learned.
The men, returning from a store where they had purchased perfumes worth N450,000, were stopped by officers in black vests with no name tags.
“They went through our phones and found nothing incriminating,” said Olufemi Olufisayo, one of the victims. “When they saw the receipt, they began questioning why young men like us would be buying perfumes worth N450,000. One of them said we must give them N1 million before they let us go.”
The officers later forced a transfer of N400,000 at a PoS, plus a N7,000 fee.
Olufisayo reported the incident on X, after which Lagos police spokesperson Benjamin Hundeyin contacted him. The money was refunded the same night, but no disciplinary action has been confirmed.
FIJ’s calls to Hundeyin for comments went unanswered.