Failed portion on Ubulu-Uku/Issele-Uku Rroad in Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State has been converted to an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) of some sorts where policemen allegedly extort money from road users.
While carrying out the illegal operation, the said police officers who usually conceal their name tag and numbers, and perch by the cool shade of a bunch of bamboo trees from where they stop road users, particularly motorists at gun point.
Locals in the area said they were scared of using the road, lamenting, however, that there was no alternative route to their destinations.
A community leader in the area and Ogwashi-Uku branch Chairman of Ubulu-Uku Developed Union, Nwannebuife Memeh, narrated his ordeal in the hands of the police officers, alleging that the officers planted a substance suspected to be hard drugs on him because of his refusal to part with money.
He alleged further that the same officer searched him “and saw some money in my bag, and insisted I must pay. I saw the danger of possible attack by the brutish and unfriendly police and after much ado, I was granted freedom after forcing me to part with N5,000.”
The community urged the state Commissioner of Police, Adeyinka Adeleke, to call his men to order, insisting that they were complementing the efforts of the local vigilante with the alleged acts of extortion.
Contacted, Adeleke told Daily Sun he was in touch with Memeh, adding that the matter will be investigated with a view to bringing the erring officers to book.