Raphael Ede, Enugu
Condemnation has continued to trail the alleged N50,000 some operatives of Enugu State police command have demanded from some robbery victims in the state.
It was gathered that residents of Uwani, in Enugu, the state capital, were on Wednesday night robbed by a three-man gang.
But luck was said to have run out of one of them as a mob chased them, following shouts of help from the victims.
One of the suspects was caught by the mob, with a laptop and mobile phones stolen from the victims and the items recovered from him.
According to our source, “the mob descended on him and beat him to stupor. The police from Uwani Division later came and took him away.
“However, the matter took another dimension as the police started demanding money from the victims.”
One of the victims told journalists in Enugu that “the policemen earlier collected N15,000 from us after taking our statement.
“After that, they started demanding N50,000 from us again. They said the money would be used in taking care of medical bills of the armed robbery suspect.
“They threatened that if we don’t bring the money, we would go to prison should anything happen to the robbery suspect.
“As I speak to you, some of our items have not been recovered. We were severely matched by the robbers and right now, nobody is talking about how we will be treated,” he narrated.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Ebere Amaraizu, said he would get back to the reporter but was yet to do so several hours after.