Abuja residents lament incessant police raid
Some residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have decried frequent raid of their communities by security agents.
The residents, mostly of shanty communities said it was unbecoming of the security agents who have turned the exercise into a money making venture.
In Ruga, a sprawling community in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Asor Jeremiah in an interview with The AUTHORITY complained that their area has been subjected to frequent raids by both policemen and armed robbers and that the residents are forced to yield to extortion, arrests and detention without charge.
The community, located within Wuye District of the federal Capital Territory (FCT), is urging the FCT Administration under, Muhammad Musa Bello in conjunction with other security heads to save the area from incessant police harassment and the menace of armed robbery.
He said able-bodied men and women were usually arrested every week and detained during the raids after which the police will instruct relations of those detained to come and bail them with N5, 000 or more for each.
"They will come every time and arrest us and ask the relation to bring 5,000 for bail," he said.
Jeremiah alleged that both the conventional police and patrol teams of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) were involved in the weekly raids, Stressing that their action was obviously motivated by the desire to extort money from the defenceless members of the community since none of those arrested in the past three months have been charged with any offence.
Also in Karu after Kugbo Mechanics’ Village, one of the victims who identified herself as Monica Buur, said: "Yesterday (Saturday) they came and arrest me while sleeping, on just no account till my brother came and pay them N3,000"
It revealed that since the arrests, no one has been charge to court, it always ends in the police custody. The development has been generating mixed feelings among the affected communities. - The Authority
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