Policemen chain suspect to generator over ATM card

Three policemen attached to the Bariga Division of the Lagos State Command have been arrested on the orders of the state Commissioner of Police,

The Nation reports that the three policemen had arrested the suspect on Sunday, July 17, 2017, in the Bariga area and after a search, they reportedly found two Automated Teller Machine [ATM] cards on him and accused him of stealing one of the cards.

They reportedly took the man to the station and handcuffed him to a generator at a corner on the premises after he could not pay them a certain amount of money they had demanded to free himself.

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It was learned that a Divisional Police Officer [DPO] who was on a routine inspection at the station discovered the dehumanizing act on the victim and ordered the three officers should be arrested and detained.

A police source who spoke on the incident said:

“They [policemen] arrested the suspect for being in possession of two ATM cards, one of which does not belong to him. While trying to interrogate him, they became overzealous and handcuffed him to the generator.

It was the DPO who caught them. They are facing necessary disciplinary action,” the source said.

In reacting to the act of brutality, CP Owoseni said the policemen would be sanctioned to serve as a deterrent to others.

“The attention of the command has been drawn to the conduct of the policemen. They have been identified and are being taken through the normal disciplinary process.

In view of the desire by the IGP to sanitize the force, the three policemen involved in the act are being tried and adequate disciplinary actions would be taken against them at the end of the trial.

The policemen had arrested a man for committing an offence along Bariga road. They took him to the station where he was handcuffed to a generator.

The Command frowns at any case of misconduct by any of its men. Policemen are advised to operate within the ambit of their guidelines. Anyone found wanting in the discharge of his duty would be made to face the wrath of the law.

People who feel their rights have been trampled on should approach the various platforms for compliant and desist from self- help.”

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Owoseni who was said to have personally ordered that the officers be made to face orderly room trial, frowned at unprofessional conducts by some policemen, assured the public that the directives of the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, on international best practices for policing, would be respected.