In the trending video, the young man was seen being harassed by officers who were hellbent on taking away his phone.
Lagos police spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin has broken his silence after a video of his officers harassing a young man in Ojo area of Lagos state surfaced online.
In the trending video, the young man was seen being harassed by officers who were hellbent on taking away his phone.
The Lagos police spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin disclosed that the incident happened in Ishashi area of the state, which he said is a hotbed for cultists.
Hundeyin who noted that the incident bordered on felony and cultism also said that after police officers searched the young men and found hard drugs on them, it called for closer investigation as cultists take hard drugs.
Hundeyin described the video of the young man being harassed by police officers and stopped from making a phone call as “malicious”.
Justifying why the young man was stopped from making a call, Hundeyin said the police officers were only trying to stop the destruction of evidence as the young man could have alerted his “gang members”. He also accused the young man of resisting arrest.
Hundeyin said in a statement;
"Your narrative is wrong and misleading. It is a fact that Ishashi is one of the hotbeds of cultism in Lagos State. It is equally a known fact that these cultists engage in heavy drug abuse. So doing a random search of three young men moving together and finding hard drugs of them would definitely call for a closer look.
"Yes, he was being prevented from making a call. No one attempted to collect his phone. This is not the norm in all cases. This particular case borders on a felony, cultism. Freshly arrested suspects in cases as sensitive as cultism will not be allowed to make calls IMMEDIATELY so that they don’t alert their gang members to destroy evidence and bolt. Calls can later be made after the initial documentation and in the presence of the IPO.
“This was a clear case of resisting arrest, and nothing about phone. Resorting to theatrics and false accusations along sensitive issues of phone searching will not deter @LagosPoliceNG from carrying out its mandate. Doing malicious video recordings will equally not cow the police into docility.”
Watch the video: