Joint ICPC, FRSC, DSS Team Nab 37 FRSC Officials, 5 Others For Extortion

A team of security operatives has arrested 37 officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, for allegedly extorting motorists on the highways.

The team, comprising officials of Independent Corrupt Practises and other related offences Commission, ICPC; FRSC and the Department of State Services, DSS, also arrested five persons said to be agents of the FRSC officials in a sting operation carried out simultaneously in the six geo-political zones.

A statement by the spokesman of ICPC, Mrs. Rasheedat Okuduwa, said the team struck, following the receipt of a complaint from the management of FRSC of massive extortion of motorists on the highways by its patrol teams.

According to the statement, the FRSC management had, in the complaint to ICPC, pointed out that incidents of extortion were rife in the six states of Kaduna, Bauchi, Abia, Rivers, Kogi and Ogun.

It said: “Based on this, the ICPC-led team went into action and identified the notorious spots in each of the aforementioned states to include Aba in Abia State; Ahoada, Ajaokuta, Itori, Torro and Gwantu in Rivers, Kogi, Ogun, Bauchi and Kaduna states, respectively.

“Thirteen FRSC officials and two civilians were arrested in Aba in the South-East, while 24 other FRSC officials and three civilians were arrested from various spots on roads spread across the other geo-political zones.”

Findings from the joint inter-agency team indicated that various sums of money were found on the arrested suspects during the sting operations before they were taken into ICPC custody.

The commission confirmed that all the suspects, who had been granted administrative bail, would be charged to court after investigation.