By Hallimah Olamide
The Lagos State Police Command has explained the rationale behind the force decision not to allow a suspected cultist to use his phone upon the arrest.
The state’s Public Relation Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin gave the explanation while reacting to a tweet on Sunday.
One twitter user, @vicoranking2 had accused police of beating one man over his refusal to release his phone to police.
The incident according to the tweet occured around Ojo local government area of Lagos state.
“Police beating a boy because he refused to drop his phone to them happened today at ojo location government ,” the tweeter user had tweeted
Reacting, Hundeyin described the narrative as “wrong and misleading” adding that the location of the incident is known as “hotbeds” of cultism in the state.
According to him, cultists also engage in heavy drug abuse in the area which prompted the police to go for a random search during which three young men moving together were subjected to search and one of them was caught with hard drugs.
“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 on of them would definitely call for a closer look,” he wrote
Explaining why the guy was prevented from using his phone, the state’s PPRO said contrary to the narrative, there was no any attempt to collect his phone.
He said freshly arrested suspects in cases as sensitive as cultism, felony would not be allowed to make calls immediately so as to prevent them from alerting their gang members to destroy evidence and bolt.
He added that though the suspects would be allowed to make calls later after he had done with proper documentation and such call would be made in the presence of IPO in charge of the case.
“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,” he added