The Delta Police Command on Monday, dismissed a video clip alleging that operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, shot a man to death in Ughelli town, in the Ughelli South local government area of the state.
Onome Onovwakpoyeya, the command spokesperson, said in a statement on Monday, October 5, 2020, in Asaba, that the video, which went viral, was the handiwork of mischief-makers.
“The attention of the Nigeria Police Force, Delta State Command has been drawn to trending online videos and posts alleging SARS Operatives of shooting a young man to death in Ughelli.
“The allegations in the online video about SARS operatives killing a young man in Ughelli are not only false, malicious, and erroneous, but also misleading.
“The victim was neither shot nor killed by the policemen. The policemen involved are not SARS operatives as earlier reported.
“The allegation is the handiwork of criminally-minded people who do not see anything good in the Police, but want Delta State to be in turmoil,’’ Onovwakpoyeya said.
The police image maker said the Command deemed it necessary to put the record straight and to state the facts of the matter as it happened.
According to her, operatives of Safe Delta Squad in Ughelli, who were on patrol along the Warri/Ughelli Road, Ughelli, on October 3, sighted a white Lexus Jeep which did not have a registration number.
She explained that on sighting the police patrol team, the driver sped off in a suspicious manner and was given a hot chase by the patrol team who intercepted the vehicle and arrested its two occupants.
“On the way to the police station, one of the suspects jumped out of the moving police patrol vehicle and sustained body and head injuries.
“While trying to rescue him, an angry mob came out to attack the policemen, a development which made the team to leave the scene with the second suspect in their patrol vehicle to avoid a violent confrontation with the mob.
“Other police patrol teams were promptly mobilised to the scene, but were informed that the victim had been rushed to a private hospital in Ughelli by passers-by,’’ Onovwakpoyeya said.
She added that the patrol team visited the victim in the hospital where he was being treated and saw him alive and recuperating.
“The Commissioner of Police, Delta State Command, Hafiz Inuwa, therefore, urges members of the public to discountenance the online video.
“The viral video is fake and a malicious publication as it has no connection with the incident in Ughelli,’’ Onovwakpoyeya stressed.
The police spokesperson recalled a similar incident where some kidnappers recently abducted a woman alongside her two children in her car in the same Ughelli.
