Help!!! I Was Scammed By SARS Police Officers

I have come across several reports concerning the inhuman activities and atrocities committed by the people armed with weapons to safeguard human lives in Nigeria; the police force, but I have never been a victim until yesterday.

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Wednesday, 23rd of May, 2018 was a day I will never forget. A day something very strange and terrible happened to me. A day a gun was pointed at me - over what? For having a laptop (mine) in my possession!

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I was coming back to Lagos from Iseyin, a town in Oyo state - Nigeria after been away for almost two weeks. I had some important stuffs to tend to as I was planning on opening a computer shop at the town. I realised the town, as big as it is with the decent population of people it enjoys, does not have a mature computer shop where laptops and computer accessories could be purchased. Same with computer related services. Computer users that are residing in that town have to come to Lagos - about 3hrs drive (when there is no traffic) before they could get computers, computer accessories or even computer services such as repairs, installation etc.

I went to Iseyin to see the recent developments in the town and also to make some enquiries. I do not want to talk about my findings in this post. Not yet.

On Wednesday (yesterday), I boarded a bus from a motor park at a market called "Oja Agbe" - meaning "farmers market" situated at the outskirt of the town and it was not so long before we took off. We have travelled for about 40 minutes when we got to a police checkpoint where a police patrol team was stopping the moving vehicles for stop-and-search in case they find criminal possessions.

I was sitting at the front seat beside the driver with my black spectacles well-seated on my not so friendly face. I had my headset playing out some fine tunes into my ears. As I looked up to see what was happening, I realised we were being stopped by some SARS officers and then, I relaxed, while one of the officers was talking to the driver.

I really did not pay attention to them since I had no reason to think there would be a problem. Just then, one of them came to my seat and asked me what I had in my bag. I told him I had a laptop, some books and other stuffs. He asked me to open it and just as he saw the laptop, he asked me to come down with my bag. I was not afraid of anything. After all, there was no reason for me to. I got down and asked him what the problem was. His eyes has changed. He looked so furious that I almost thought he was insane or something.

"What could have happened to this dude?" - I asked myself silently.

Then, he started ranting:

I can see you are a Yahoo boy and you think you can get away with this? This laptop is what you use in going your fraudulent activities...

Yahoo boy is the term used to describe an internet fraudster in Nigeria. I asked him what he meant by that when he did not have any evidence to prove that. Does possessing a PC make one a fraudster? He tried to power on my laptop and as the battery was down, the PC could not come on. That gave him more leverage to use against me.

Two other officers joined us and one even threatened to shoot me in the leg if I try to argue. They took my phone, searched it for a long time and could not find anything related to prove their claim. As they saw a transaction alert for some Steem Dollars I sold to @slauboyson, one of the guys that buy and sell Steem and Steem Dollars through @airhawk-exchange earlier that day, they said it could be a transaction alert for ITunes card or something. I became furious that I asked them to let us go to their station.

All the passengers and the driver pleaded with them but all got into their deaf ears. One woman among the passengers called one of the officers aside and pleaded with him to let me go since they knew I am innocent. Then, the officer told the woman that if I do not cooperate with them and give them #50,000 (around $140), they would implicate me and charge me with offences I know nothing about - that could go as far as robbery.

That was when I knew I was in trouble already. They asked the driver and other passengers to board and leave me behind. They told them it was non of their concern. The passengers stayed and kept pleading with them. No one dared to confront them to ask for proof for their claims. After all, we know what SARS officers could do. They could go to the length of putting a pistol into my bag and insist it was mine.

The woman that called one of the officers aside came to me and asked me to give them whatever I have. It got to a moment when the whole passengers in the vehicle decided to contribute some money and add it to whatever amount I had on me so as to let the matter rest. The police officers started dragging me like a hardened criminal. That was when I brought the #15,000 I had in my wallet out and started begging them. It had gotten to a point where I had to sacrifice whatever I had so as to let the matter rest.

After much pleading they accepted the money and released me. We left the point and the whole passengers started talked about the fraudulent activities that are being committed by the Nigerian Police Force. Many gave the scenarios of their friends or family that ended up in jail through a matter they know nothing about. As many were sympathising with me, many asked me to give thanks to God that the incident could be handled and that the matter was conquered.

I wish I could have taken some pictures at the scene, but I was so troubled that that was the last thing on my mind.

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I have blogged about countless criminal activities on my News blog. Only God knows how many innocent lives that are being implicated and sent to jail. Many innocent young men and women have been killed by the corrupt officers when they see them trying to resist.

Nigerian Police Force is corrupt in a way that cannot be handled by even the government. It is time we the citizens start crying out.

While I feel so bad towards the incident, I still give thanks to God for helping me in handling the situation. I pray such does not happen to me, my family, my friends and everyone reading this.

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Thank you for reading...

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I know you don't give a crap, but I will tell you this:
I am @teekingtv, the no.1 Global Meetup analyst

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I request for your feedback through comment. And I may get you arrested for ignoring this post.

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