The High Court has ordered officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and an officer of the Nigeria Police Force to pay the sum of N5million as compensation to Mr Ugochukwu for extortion, illegal arrest, unlawful detention and torture.

Oraefo, an Onitsha based businessman was in 2018 arrested at his factory by men of the squad and taken to their office at Awkuzu, where he was unlawfully detained, subjected to excruciating torture and criminally extorted the sum of N6milion as ransom.

The officers had accused Oraefo of working with kidnappers, and having also paid some money to kidnappers, without alerting the police, but the victim rather confessed that he paid ransom to kidnappers who had called and threatened to kidnap him, and also warning him not to disclose it to the police.

The victim who spoke to journalists upon his release had said that he was kept in detention and tortured for five days, after which a mock execution was carried out on him, with the threat that he also pays them, to secure his freedom.

Though Ugochukwu, through his lawyer, Barr Justus Ijeoma was able to get a refund of the N6million he paid to secure his release from the police, Ijeoma, the Executive Director of International Human Rights and Equity Defence Foundation (I-REF) instituted a fundamental right enforcement action against the SARS.

The Respondents in the suit marked “HID/MISC/ 129/2018 were Commissioner of Police, SP Sunday Okpe, Officer in charge of Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS) Nigeria Police Force, Awkuzu; DSP, Elias, Commander of Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS) Nigeria Police Force Neni; Commander of Special Anti-robbery Squad(SARS) Nigeria Police Force, Ogidi and Sgt. Osmond Tagbo, Police officer attached to SARS Neni office.