Two travellers head to Lagos after a wedding, police plant weed in their car and demand ₦150,000

• Two young travellers returning from a wedding were stopped by police officers in Nasarawa.

• The police Complaint Response Unit alleges officers planted weed in the car and demanded ₦150,000 to release one of the men.

• Two officers have been detained at Force Headquarters in Abuja pending an investigation.

Two police officers of the Nasarawa State Police Command have been detained at the Force Headquarters in Abuja over allegations that they framed a young traveller with drugs and demanded ₦150,000 from him for his release.

The Nigeria Police Force Complaint Response Unit (NPF CRU) disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, November 5, 2026, saying it was acting on a viral video. The video showed armed officers attached to the Ado Area Command in an altercation with two young travellers who were returning from a wedding and heading to the airport to fly back to Lagos.

The unit said the officers in the video had been identified and invited to Force Headquarters for an interview on the same day in connection with the investigation. Only two of them appeared. The two have been detained pending the conclusion of the investigation and further directives from the Inspector-General of Police.

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According to the statement, one of the travellers was taken to a police station, where the divisional police officer allegedly demanded ₦100,000 for his bail after the officers presented weed to him, claiming it had been found on the traveller.

An additional ₦50,000 was allegedly demanded for fuel for the vehicle used to drive him to the station, bringing the total to ₦150,000. The traveller reportedly refused to write a statement implicating himself, so the officers allegedly wrote one themselves, stating that drugs were found on him.

The statement did not say whether the money was paid, whether the divisional police officer is among those detained, or what happened to the officers who did not appear. 

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The police have dismissed officers over viral videos before. An inspector, Richard Gele, was dismissed in 2022 after a video showed him justifying extortion by officers. In December 2023, two special constabulary officers were dismissed in Oyo State after a video showed them demanding money from a Dutch tourist.

More recently, the force dismissed five officers in May 2026 over alleged kidnapping, armed robbery and extortion in Rivers State and forwarded the case file for prosecution. In January 2026, the Complaint Response Unit summoned a divisional police officer in Asaba, Delta State, to Force Headquarters over allegations that he intimidated and extorted a man who had helped a dying stranger.

All these point to efforts the force is putting in to curb the extortion of citizens. Police said the investigation is ongoing.