Police raid hotel, arrest 40 as female suspects accuse officers of sexual molestation
Mon Apr 18, 2016 02:18:pm Gist
2.6K By sosa hills
No fewer than 40 persons have been arrested in a hotel at Ogidi, Idemili North Local Government Area, Anambra State by the police for alleged criminal activities.
The suspects were arrested at the weekend by operatives of the Nnewi Ichi Command of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Anambra State Police Command.
The police said the arrest of the suspects: 30 men and 10 women was part part of their efforts to rid the state of criminals and undesirable elements.
It was learnt that the police picked up the suspects based on information that the hotel was used by the owners for breeding criminals.
Sources claimed that the police stormed the hotel at about 9pm last Friday and arrested all the people within the premises and took them to its base in Nnewi-Ichi.
Some of the suspects who were later granted bail by the police told journalists that they were assaulted by the security operatives in the name of looking for criminals while money was forcefully removed from them.
The proprietor of the hotel, Mr. Charles Onyudo, said: "I feel bad with the raid; nobody comes to the hotel again. How can SARS from Nnewi-Ichi come to this place without informing their men in Ogidi and Awkuzu.
"They stormed here in a commando style with clubs, machetes and guns and ordered everybody to lie down without committing any offence. You can see many of our chairs and bottles of beer have been broken," he lamented
Onyudo said that "our business has been paralysed for three days following the police raid and we were all detained and money extorted from us for our bail."
He claimed that, "one Chukwujekwu Nwaka lost N16,000 to the police while Chinwendu Ifekwe paid N12,000 for his bail. Chidi Ogbonna paid N10,000 and Obinna Nwabufor paid N10,000 for his bail and at the end they did not arrest any criminal in the hotel."
The hotelier alleged that he spent about N20,000 for the bail and transportation of those arrested to bring them back to the hotel and I may be losing about N4million for these three days we were not in business and the damage done to our reputation by the raid," he said.
A police officer said that before the raid, the Ogidi SARS was informed by their Nnewi-Ichi counter parts, but the officer on duty failed to record the presence of Nnewi-Ichi SARS when they left for the operation which is now a source of concern to the state police command.
The police said that substance suspected to be Indian hemp were recovered during the raid, but some of the female suspects accused the SARS operatives of dehumanising them by not allowing them to dress up as well as beating and sexually abusing them.
The Anambra State SARS Commander, Mr. Ben Abang, confirmed the raid of the hotel.
The suspects were arrested at the weekend by operatives of the Nnewi Ichi Command of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Anambra State Police Command.
The police said the arrest of the suspects: 30 men and 10 women was part part of their efforts to rid the state of criminals and undesirable elements.
It was learnt that the police picked up the suspects based on information that the hotel was used by the owners for breeding criminals.
Sources claimed that the police stormed the hotel at about 9pm last Friday and arrested all the people within the premises and took them to its base in Nnewi-Ichi.
Some of the suspects who were later granted bail by the police told journalists that they were assaulted by the security operatives in the name of looking for criminals while money was forcefully removed from them.
The proprietor of the hotel, Mr. Charles Onyudo, said: "I feel bad with the raid; nobody comes to the hotel again. How can SARS from Nnewi-Ichi come to this place without informing their men in Ogidi and Awkuzu.
"They stormed here in a commando style with clubs, machetes and guns and ordered everybody to lie down without committing any offence. You can see many of our chairs and bottles of beer have been broken," he lamented
Onyudo said that "our business has been paralysed for three days following the police raid and we were all detained and money extorted from us for our bail."
He claimed that, "one Chukwujekwu Nwaka lost N16,000 to the police while Chinwendu Ifekwe paid N12,000 for his bail. Chidi Ogbonna paid N10,000 and Obinna Nwabufor paid N10,000 for his bail and at the end they did not arrest any criminal in the hotel."
The hotelier alleged that he spent about N20,000 for the bail and transportation of those arrested to bring them back to the hotel and I may be losing about N4million for these three days we were not in business and the damage done to our reputation by the raid," he said.
A police officer said that before the raid, the Ogidi SARS was informed by their Nnewi-Ichi counter parts, but the officer on duty failed to record the presence of Nnewi-Ichi SARS when they left for the operation which is now a source of concern to the state police command.
The police said that substance suspected to be Indian hemp were recovered during the raid, but some of the female suspects accused the SARS operatives of dehumanising them by not allowing them to dress up as well as beating and sexually abusing them.
The Anambra State SARS Commander, Mr. Ben Abang, confirmed the raid of the hotel.
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