Group raided and members arrested for extorting people using President Buhari's name.

On the 30th day of June, 2017 actionable intelligence was received by a team of detectives from the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department of the Command that a group of people were selling forms to unsuspecting members of the public to be recruited as Law Enforcement Officers using the guise of employment.

Therefore, detectives were mobilized to the scene a veranda in a storey building along Atiku Abubakar Way, Uyo where 16 persons (10 males and 6 females) were arrested and the following items were recovered from them: physical cash ofOne Hundred and ninety thousand eight hundred naira (N199,800.00) and two set of forms for Empowerment and Surveillance.

The group operates with the name “Niger Delta Youths, Women and Security Movement for Buhari”. Investigation revealed that, the group’s (membership and surveillance) sold forms were purchased at the rate of six thousand naira (N6,000.00) and N15, 000.00 respectively.
It was further revealed that the group tricked applicants into believing that those applying for security jobs will be trained by the Nigerian Army and on completion will be posed to the Nigerian Navy, Police Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Department of State Services, for the purpose of pipeline surveillance and protection. It was also revealed that the purported recruitment started in 2015 with membership drawn from all the Local Government Areas of the state, with one Felix Obonka from Delta State said to be the mastermind of the group. He and his cohorts gulled members into believing that they would become trained artisans and proud owners of shops at the end of the programme.

However, the syndicate has not trained nor given shop to any persons since 2015. It is also instructive to note that the group is an unregistered organization which perpetrates all sorts of criminality and consequently not one to be taken seriously. They are simply using the name of the president and commander in-chief Mohammud Buhari GCFR to scam and defraud innocent members of the public as none of the members belong to any registered political party.

The Akwa Ibom State Police Command believes in the sanctity of the law, respect for its citizens in accordance with the tenets of democratic policing. Consequently, the 16 suspects will be arraigned in the court.

Meanwhile, the leaders of this syndicate have gone into hiding in futile effort to escape justice. They will all be fished out and prosecuted.

It is hoped that in the light of the facts bare through this medium, the unwanted accusations against the command will be put to rest.

The command wishes to warn members to weary of unscrupulous elements who under the guise of unlawful organization promising employment and skill acquisition empowerment to dupe unsuspecting members of the public. Members of the public are advised to alert the Police in any suspicious activities.



DSP CHUKWU IKECHUKWU
POLICE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER
AKWA IBOM