After ‘Kidnapping’ International Student, Osun Police Receive ‘Ransom’ in Cryptocurrency

Ifeoluwa Lawal, a student of Cyprus International University, Cyprus, has narrated how police officers robbed him of his school fee on Friday.

In a series of tweets, Lawal, who returned to Nigeria in February, stated that he was on a journey with his father and brothers when the officers stopped them along Osogbo express road.

The officers took their phones and looked through them. Seeing a Binance app with $800Tether (usdt) on his phone, they forced Lawal to transfer $504usdt, the equivalence of N292,000, to another cryptocurrency account.

His post on Twitter

“I came back to Nigeria in February and yesterday $504(292k) was extorted from me by the Nigerian police (Force Intelligence Bureau) along oshogbo road. They stopped me, dad and two of my brothers, collected our phones and vehicle particulars,” he wrote.

“They searched through and saw Binance app on my phone with $800usdt in it which is for the payment of my school fee in Cyprus. I was to send the usdt to my friend in Cyprus to help change to euro so he could pay on my behalf.”

Lawal told FIJ that the officers robbed him through a cryptocurrency barcode.

“They said it was a crime to have cryptocurrency and they collected the money in crypto. The youngest among them with beards called a guy that sent a barcode. I transferred the money through that barcode,” he said.

He also said the officers assaulted them and threatened to kill or jail them.

“They hit my brother in the leg and hit my knee with their van’s door as they forced me to enter the van because I refused to call one of them ‘uncle,'” he said.

“They threatened to jail and kill us, and drove us for about two hours around the express road. I managed to snap their number plate.”

The number plate

When asked if he could identify any of the officers, Lawal told FIJ that the officers belong to the Force Intelligence Bureau and that he could only identify one Inspector Shola.

“They wore a police jacket with Force Intelligence Bureau, with a cock head as the logo. They told us they were 17, but about 10 of them were there, with two police vans,” he said.

“One of them was identified as Inspector Shola. They referred to themselves in codes like ‘operative’ and ‘oga.'”

When FIJ contacted Yemisi Opalola, Osun State Police Public Relations Officer, she asked that a text be sent to her, but she had not responded to it at press time.

© FIJ