December 05, (THEWILL) – The Rivers State Police Command has arrested and detained four of its personnel, for abducting a staff of a hotel and demanding N1 million ransom from the family
The victim, Darlington Bieh, was intercepted on Saturday, at about 8 pm, by policemen on patrol around Choba in the Obio/Akpor local government area of Rivers State, while on his way to work.
A source at the Command said the rogue police officers had searched the victim’s bags, pockets and phone, but found nothing incriminating.
“While scrolling through his phone, they saw pictures indicating the young man worked in a big hotel around the area.
“They told the victim to ask his family to send N1 million as bail, threatening to kill him and throw his corpse into the Choba River, if the family failed to comply.
“The policemen took the victim to Aluu community in Ikwerre local council, while they awaited payment from his family. Instead of calling his father, Darlington called his boss, the owner of the hotel, who, in turn, called a Divisional Police Officer (DPO), who pretended to be the victim’s father.
“The officers negotiated a ransom with the DPO, through Darlington’s phone. At about 1:00 a.m., on Sunday, the DPO led his men to the location in Aluu, disarmed and arrested them”, the source added.
Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, confirmed the incident.
The State Police boss said some officers, who were in contact with the victim, had been arrested.
“They have been arrested. I am waiting for a complaint from the victim so that I will know what and what to look out for. The officers are in custody. We are not hiding anything. When the complaint comes, we will give you details of what we have done. If I don’t get complaints from members of the public on this, I will believe everything is okay. All of us are in this together”, he said.
