Policemen attached to the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) in the Aba area of Abia State have released three people they kidnapped and held for ransom on Sunday.
Upon receiving a complaint from one Chidinma Celestine, who claimed she had moved out of an apartment and discovered that her wig, worth N450,000, was missing, the police swung into action and drove to the apartment. They arrested the landlord, Iniobong Luke and Blessing Dan, Celestine’s neighbours.
Hours later, Dan’s family texted FIJ to report that the police were demanding that the three detainees contribute money to compensate Celestine for the missing wig and also pay them N100,000 each for not taking the matter to court.
“We just arrived in Aba from Owerri in Imo State to bail her, but the police are not releasing her,” Kelechi Sonia, one of Dan’s sisters, told FIJ on Sunday.
“She has been detained since morning with no food or water for something she knows nothing about. She is already throwing up in the station.”
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Sonia said she was at the station with her husband, but the police sent her away, saying a woman could not stand as surety.
Her husband discussed with them and later returned to tell her the police’s demands.
When FIJ spoke with him over the phone, he said he was able to negotiate down to N85,000, but Sonia had already withdrawn N100,000 from a PoS merchant opposite the station.
FIJ then called Maureen Chinaka, the spokesperson for the Abia State Police Command.
Chinaka called the RRS Commander. After this call, she called FIJ to say the commander had probed the matter and was told by the investigating officers that it was the detainees’ idea to pay the sums.
“They will be released tonight, and no one will collect a dime from her or her family,” Chinaka told FIJ over the phone.
Afterwards, Sonia’s husband went in, but the police rejected the money and processed the release of all three detainees. Chinaka said she was going to investigate the matter herself the next day.
When Dan regained her freedom, she called FIJ to say, “Thank you so much, sir.”
She explained that Celestine was her neighbour who relocated three months ago. Celestine did not take all her properties. She said the lady showed up to pack the rest of her belongings. During this endeavour, she began exclaiming about a missing wig, and this was when she invited the police to take them.
Without investigating, the police determined all three detainees to be equally guilty and meted out judgment that would have cost them a combined N780,000.
On Wednesday, Dan told FIJ that the police had not called or invited her since Sunday.
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