The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested two suspects and a Mobile Police inspector for impersonating officials of the commission and extorting members of the public in Lagos State.
The agency has asked Nigerians to be vigilant and demand proper identification from officers when confronted with the possibility of arrest.
A Lagos-based businessman, Samuel Otigba first announced on May 12, that the fake EFCC operatives were nabbed during an illegal operation at New Horizon Estate in the Lekki area of the state, to serve a purported court order on an unsuspecting victim.
He said they were eventually handed over to the EFCC.
Omoooo today is wild. We caught 2 men that came into our estate claiming to be EFCC officials, with fake EFCC ids & accompanied with Mopol, trying to extort money from a resident. One of the fake officers tried escaping by jumping from a 4 storey but fell into the electric fence.
The mobile police officer with a rifle escaped.
They have been handed over to the real @officialEFCC operatives for proper investigation,” Samuel wrote on Twitter.
Speaking on their arrest, the Zonal Head of the Lagos EFCC Office, Ghali Ahmed, advised Nigerians to always report any suspicious operation to the nearest office of the anti-graft agency.
We need to be wary of the antics of this gang of impostors and to report any suspicious “operations” to the nearest EFCC office,” he said.
The suspects are Pascal Chijioke and Sodiq Adekunle, and the mobile policeman is Edwin Bassey.
Items recovered from them include the fake EFCC ID cards, the jackets, the purported court order touted to have emanated from Mushin Magistrate Court, a truckload of household properties belonging to the unsuspecting victim.
