Police in Ihiagwa, Imo State, on Thursday, arrested Solomon Ohadoma, a builder resident in the area.

Solomon was attempting to recover the ₦7,800 he was owed after laying blocks for a yet-to-be-identified man in the community when he snatched a phone belonging to his debtor in a bid to get him to pay up.

Afterwards, policemen arrived, cocked a gun and threatened to shoot him and five of his siblings. They arrested all six of them.

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Narrating the ordeal to FIJ, David Oyewole, a friend of the family, said, “Chidiebube Ohadoma, Solomon’s sister and four other siblings are with him in prison right now.

“The police took them to court on Friday without their lawyer, and without informing their parents or anyone at all. They were taken to a magistrate court in Ihiagwa.

“The police said they assaulted a police officer, which is a lie.”

On why Solomon snatched the man’s phone, Oyewole said, “He didn’t rob the man. He worked for the man, and this man refused to pay him. The man did a fake transfer to him, and he didn’t receive the money. In the heat of the argument, he seized the man’s phone.”

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Earlier, Chidiebube tweeted a video of a police officer in mufti cocking his gun and preparing to shoot Solomon. Oyewole said she was arrested for filming the police.

When FIJ called Henry Okoye, spokesman for the Imo State Police Command, he said the police received a complaint and went to investigate a robbery but met some resistance.

He accused Solomon and his siblings of assaulting a policeman and said they were arrested for robbery and assault.

Ojukwu is a reporter with FIJ in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.