Police Arrest 4 Officers For Kidnapping, N20m Extortion

The Zone 16 Command of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has arrested four personnel including a police inspector involved in the alleged abduction and extortion of N20 million from two suspected internet fraudsters popularly known as “Yahoo Boys” in Bayelsa State.

The arrested police officers however confessed that two civilian accomplices now at large, one of them contested the last state House of Assembly election under the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa and another set up the “Yahoo Boys” for the alleged extortion scam.

It was gathered that the detained policemen stormed the residence of the “Yahoo Boys” last Monday, who are indigenes of Bayelsa State but came in from Ghana and arrested them with blindfold to an unknown hotel in Azikoro Town.

They reportedly threatened to kill the boys if they don’t part with N50 million and claimed someone from Ghana accused them of theft.

The boys agreed to part with N20 million and took them to two commercial banks and made two separate transfers of N7 million and N13 million.

A friend of the victims who learnt about their ordeal reported it to the police headquarters where top hierarchy swung into action.

A source close to the command, said the AIG Zone 16, Benjamin Okolo, ordered the arrest of the suspects and additional facts revealed that the accused personnel’s action was without the knowledge of their superior officers.

Confirming the incident, the public relations officer, Zone 16, SP Ikwo Kevin, said some fraudster known as Yahoo boys defrauded some foreigners of the sum of $28,000 dollars, for which they went after them and got them arrested.

“The fraudster confessed to the crime and pleaded for leniency but instead of them to do the needful, they compromised by collecting monies from them, so when the AIG got wind of the matter, he ordered for their arrest and detention.

“Information we got was that the police got N10 million while the informant also got N10 million of his own share, but has eventually returned N7.5 million from his hideout and still on the run. The monies they got were also recovered, while investigation is still on,” Ikwo said.