Policemen attached to the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID)’s annex in the Alagbon area of Lagos State kidnapped Olawale Iyanda, a businessman, tortured him for hours and extorted N2 million from him on Tuesday.
In the video shared on X on Saturday, the policemen can be seen dragging Iyanda and hitting him with the barrels of their guns as his family and neighbours plead for restraint. They also hit his wife and leave her writhing in pain.
When FIJ spoke with Iyanda on Sunday, he said the incident occurred on Tuesday. He remembers the head of the team was called Kalu, but he did not get his full name.
From his apartment in Unity Estate, Egbeda, the police took him to their office in Ikoyi, a 33km journey. During the trip, he did not know where he was being taken to or what would befall him.
“They kept saying they had several petitions against me but showed me nothing,” Iyanda told FIJ.
“I had no idea where they were taking me. I kept asking them for my name, but they did not know it and just kept beating me with the back of their guns and hitting me.”
Back home, his wife and her younger sister were battling the effects of a substance the policemen had sprayed into their eyes. Iyanda said one of them could not see for the entire day.
“They drove me about 500–700 metres and began beating me again,” Ayinde continued.
“Their boss, whom I later learnt was called Kalu, was spitting on my face and punching me. Meanwhile, another man with them dragged my private part for over 10–15 seconds, saying I was trying to spoil their operation. Another person tightened the handcuffs on my wrists to the point of almost breaking them, while one other man, who was armed, choked me from behind the seat since I was sitting at the front.
“They beat, tortured and dehumanised me throughout the ride to Ikoyi. At some point, I started screaming, ‘Kidnappers, kidnappers,’ and that was when they began beating me all over again.
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“Not knowing exactly what my offence was, I began begging for my life because no sane police officers would ever arrest someone and beat them so ruthlessly. When we arrived at their office, they kept threatening my life, saying that my family and I would regret that day and that if I was even still alive by the time my family got to FCID Alagbon, I would see.
“I had no choice but to obey because I was scared to death and almost unconscious. When we got to the Ikoyi FCID police station, I felt slightly relieved because I realised it was not an ordinary kidnapping. Upon bringing me down from their vehicle, they composed themselves, removed my handcuffs, and Kalu told me to hold one of their bags while they escorted me to the backyard of the station as if nothing had happened.”
Things soon took a different turn as they got to a back room. Policemen fed Iyanda a story and forced him to admit to internet fraud.
He said he told them he was a cryptocurrency trader, but they brought a petition that had ‘Olawale Fawaz’ on it, and forced him to put his details on a statement admitting to making millions from fraud.
Afterwards, the police demanded N15 million, but dropped their demands to N2 million after Iyanda showed them he had no more than N200,000 in his account. It was past 7 pm, and the station was growing darker with every passing minute.
Caught between a court date for a crime he did not commit and a bribe demand, he opted to raise the money through borrowing.
He traded some of his crypto to add to his previous balance and raised N970,000, then got N300,000 and N769,250 from other sources. He had N2,039,250.
“The PoS merchant the police pointed me to demanded N37,000 for charges, so I had to get more than N2 million,” he told FIJ.
Iyanda explained that he tried sending the money to the PoS, but it bounced back, so he had to send it in three tranches of N900,000, N950,000 and N187,000.
On Sunday, Aminat Mayegun, Public Relations Officer of the FCID office, told FIJ she was investigating the matter and had invited the complainant and Kalu to her office on Monday.
When FIJ called Kalu, he begged for leniency and asked to see the victim so he could return the money.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Na street we de. Please, tell Olawale to come and see me. I am not on duty today, but I will come because of him.”
The post VIDEO: FCID Policemen Kidnap Lagos Businessman, Extort N2m From Him appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.