Stop Arresting Yahoo Boys - Inspector General of Police give orders to SARS

The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has cautioned
operatives of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) to stop arresting internet fraudsters otherwise known as ‘yahoo boys’.

Daily Trust quoted the police chief as saying that their area of operation covered armed robbery and kidnapping; warning further that any officer caught arresting cyber-crime suspects would be sanctioned appropriately. Idris gave the warning yesterday at the FRARS headquarters at Magbo in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The IGP was represented by the team leader of South West
Monitoring Fact Finding Committee on SARS Reform, DCP
Adepojulo Ilori. He said the committee had embarked on the inspection of SARS detention facilities across the southwest states.

The committee reviewed the case files of all the suspects in detention and promised to transfer all civil cases to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation to de-congest the detention facility.

Ilori said: “We are visiting all the FSARS facilities in all the commands in the Southwest states and ensure that the IGP’s directives are strictly complied with. To achieve this, we are soliciting the usual unflinching support of the media, the civil liberty organization, human rights organizations and the entire members of the public to promptly report their observation to the CP of the state concerned because we
cannot achieve this without your cooperation.

“We are very sure as from now that you are going to see a positively transformed FSARS operative that will now function as per their specific role of nipping robbery, armed robbery and kidnapping activities in the bud. This why we are here.”

“For now, SARS will be operating in our normal uniform until after we
might have completed our fact finding mission even the
presidency will still have inputs.”