On January 12, Taiwo Kolawole, John Ogbe and Idowu Sunday, policemen attached to the Ijebu-Ife police division in Ogun State, held Kashimao Emmanuel, a Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) student, at gunpoint and forced him to part with N312,000.

Emmanuel made a report to the police on how he was driving when the policemen stopped him and demanded his phone.

At the time, he did not know they were policemen, as only one of them wore a police uniform. He refused to hand over his phone but complied after they fired a shot into the air.

These men drove him away to Shagamu in the state, made a turn to Ijebu-Ode and then made him transfer money to an Opay account number.

READ ALSO: Black-Clad Policemen ‘Kidnap’ Realtor in Abuja, Take N29.9m ‘Ransom’

After Emmanuel transferred N312,000 to the account, the men let him go. He then went to file a report.

The DPO of the station called the number attached to the station and ordered the recipient, a PoS merchant, not to hand over the money to whoever came for it.

With the help of the police division boss, Emmanuel could track the merchant, and the police arrested Sunday after he showed up to withdraw the money. It was at the point of this arrest that the identity of the robbers became known.

On Wednesday, Omolola Odutola, Police Public Relations Officer of the Ogun State Police Command, told FIJ that the command arrested them alongside one Adesiyan Mathew, their driver.

She said the police had conducted an orderly room trial and dismissed them, and they would be made to answer for their crime in court.

“Two other complainants who were victims at various times came forward and identified them to have earlier robbed them of their belongings in the same manner,” she added.

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.