By Ken Chiwendu
The Nigerian Poliice Force Edo State Command has paraded two fake police inspectors arrested in connection with illicit drugs valued at N20 million in the state.
The Commissioner of Police, Funsho Adegboye, who made this known to newsmen in Benin City, said they were among the five-man criminal gang specialized in dealing in illicit drugs.
He said the names of the two fake police officers are Alex Akaeze, 39, and Kadiri Hassan, 45
Other members of the gang according to him, include Ovie Samuel, 46; Stanley Itota, 45; and Felix Oputi, 46.
Adegboye explained that the 45 suspects were arrested by operatives of the Command’s Intelligence and Rapid Response Squad at a guest house operated by Samuel at No 5, Colobus Street, off Upper Mission Extension Road, Benin City.
Furthermore,he said that the illicit drug called ‘ice’ weighed 1,080 kilograms with a street value of N20 million.
The CP said the investigation is ongoing, and that the suspects would soon be charged to court.
In an interview with newsmen, Akaeze, one of the suspects, said he was enlisted into the Police Force in 2009.
Akaeze, who insisted he is a Police Inspector added that he was transferred to Zamfara State from AIG Zone 2, Lagos State.
According to him, “I am an Inspector of Police. I was enlisted in 2009, I started in Ketu, and from there to SARS. I was transferred to Zamfara, but I did not go.
“I worked myself back to Zone 2, from there I was transferred to Lagos State Command, from where we were later transferred to Alagbon since September last year, but we were yet to report for duty there.
“These two officers [Command operatives], are our colleagues, we worked together in IRT, I have their phone numbers and I called them before I came down from Lagos and I told them that I have an urgent arrest to make and wanted them to follow us and they agreed.
“Although I told them that I still serve at Alagbon, I didn’t tell them the truth that we have not reported for duty there. We were with them in their office yesterday and they led us to make the arrest.
“We were however surprised that they suddenly changed it for us and arrested us with the drug dealers”, he added.
