Published 13th Jan, 2023

By Daniel Ojukwu

The Kwara State Police Command has refunded the sum of N2 million to James Karunwi, a forex trader policemen extorted from in December 2022.

Karunwi told FIJ the police invited him to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) on Thursday, returned his money and appealed to him to forgive the erring policemen.

This comes five days after FIJ reported how policemen attached to the SCID accosted Karunwi and his friends in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, and forced him to transfer the sum to a Point of Sale (PoS) merchant from whom they collected cash.

Speaking with FIJ on Thursday, Karunwi said, “I just left there. They gave me the complete money back in cash. Thank you for helping me; I am very grateful.”

Earlier, Karunwi narrated to FIJ how police stopped him and three of his friends in Ilorin in December and forcefully went through their phones.

He said the policemen saw mentions of money in his chat conversations with friends and quizzed him about them.

Dissatisfied with his response, the policemen drove the group of friends to the SCID and forced Karunwi to buy their freedom with N2 million.

When FIJ told Okasanmi Ajayi, spokesman for the Kwara State Police Command, he invited Karunwi to the SCID on Monday and promised to investigate the matter.

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.

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