The Maritime Police Command has arrested two men for alleged impersonation, extortion and blackmail of importers at the Lagos seaports.
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The suspects identified as Gbenga Solomon, 48 and Erhimu Igho,59, were said to be employees of CMA-CGM Nigeria Limited with Gbenga being the Customer Service Manager.
According to the police,the suspects who have been charged to court, were arrested on April 2, following complaints lodged at the Maritime
Police Commend headquarters in Obalende, that some containers were blocked with purported documents from the command.
Recall that there had been allegations of widespread corruption and extortion of importers by operatives of the command especially at Timcan Port who arbitrarily block containers on the system under spurious claims in order to fleece importers of their money.
This practice which went on for a long time, however, drew the wrath of the current Inspector General of Police (IG) Kayode Egbetokun when the matter was brought to his attention, which led to some house keeping in the Maritime Command.
In continuation of the sanitisation exercise, upon her assumption of duty, last November, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG),, in charge of the command, Olofu A. Rhoda, gave a standing order that all containers blocked or placed on lien at the ports without cogent reasons should be released
He warned her personnel that the directive was to give effect to the Federal Government’s policy on Ease of doing Businesses at the country’s seaports, emphasizing that blocking of containers must be based only on credible information.
However, there were still complaints from importers and their agents that containers were still being blocked and prevented from leaving the port thereby inflicting demurrage on those who refused to bribe corrupt officials.
Our correspondent gathered that it was on that premise that some of the aggrieved persons filed a petition to the AIG which was investigated and the two suspects found to have been culpable.
According to a statement yesterday by acting Police Public Relations Officer (APPRO), ASP Rowland EHINMODE, the duo allegedly conspired and forged Maritime Police Command’s official documents, impersonated police officers of the Command and blocked over 20 containers with four bills of lading for purposes of extorting money from the consignee and clearing agents.
“The suspects have since been charged to Court and remanded in Prison custody.
AIG Olofu Rhoda frowns at this unwholesome, fraudulent and criminally minded individuals and hereby warns all those who are in the habit of perpetrating these types of criminality and other forms of illegalities at the Ports to desist from such as the full wrath of the law will be meted on anyone found culpable.
“Furthermore, the AIG advised all law abiding citizens especially port users to always verify from the Maritime Command the authenticity of any purported Investigation Activities or Container Blockage letters to ascertain whether they emanated from the command or not as the command operates an open door policy,” he said.
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