The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a motorcyclist, Kehinde Alani, for allegedly forging a police ID card.
Alani was arrested on Friday at the Police College, Ikeja, while taking his friend on a motorcycle for a police job interview at the college.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the suspect had wanted to ride the motorcycle into the college when he was intercepted by policemen guarding the gate.
The 41-year-old was said to have claimed to be a member of the Force, asking the guards to allow him entry.
Upon interrogation, the police discovered he was fake, leading to his arrest.
The suspect, who was paraded at the police headquarters, Ikeja, owned up to the crime.
He said, “I am a motorcyclist from the Badagry area of Lagos State. The man I brought for the police interview always assisted me to move goods from Seme, Benin Republic, because he has links with customs.
“When he told me he had been invited for a job interview and he was coming to the police college, I told him I knew the place and I could take him there.
“When we were about to enter through the gate, the policemen started interrogating me. One of them asked me which division I was attached to and I couldn’t answer him. He asked for my ID card, which I showed him. He said I was an imposter and arrested me.”
Alani, who is an indigene of Abeokuta, Ogun State, told PUNCH Metro that constant harassment by the police forced him to seek help.
He said the police had seized three motorcycles from him.
“The police have seized three motorcycles from me during the time of Fashola (a former Lagos State Governor). I got the first motorcycle on hire purchase for N280,000 but it was collected from me and taken to the Alausa secretariat.
“I got another one on hire purchase for N220,000, but the police took that from me as well. My family members, who took pity on me, contributed money and bought the third motorcycle for me; it was brand new. But policemen from the Igando division seized it.
“A policeman, who was my neighbour, promised to help me. He gave me a mobile police cap and made the ID card. Since that time, the police stopped disturbing me. I regret my actions.”
In a related development, a dismissed police inspector, John Odu, has confessed to using his police ID card to make money.
The 37-year-old Benue State indigene was arrested last Wednesday while escorting a truck to the Ilasamaja area of the state.
Odu, who spoke with PUNCH Metro, said he wanted to raise money to pay a man who had promised to ensure his reinstatement.
He said, “I was a police inspector attached to the 22 Police Mobile Force, Ikeja, before I was dismissed in 2013. I was dismissed because I did not report for duty when I was transferred to Ondo State. The reason I did not report for duty was because I had an accident at that time and I spent one month in the hospital.
“Somebody in Abuja, however, promised to help me if I could give him some money. I had to keep posing as a police inspector so I could raise the money. I was escorting trucks and given tokens.
“I had already escorted a vehicle to Ilasamaja last Wednesday when the police asked why we were on the road. I came down from the vehicle and explained we were waiting for the gateman to open the gate. The policemen started questioning me and that was how I was arrested.”
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, warned members of the public against imposters, adding that the suspects would be arraigned in court at the end of investigations.
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