A 35-year-old dismissed police corporal, Adegbite Olawale, has confessed to using his uniform and other police insignia to “hustle” in Lagos State.
“It appears better for me to use my old uniform to either operate as a commercial rider or to escort drivers in the logistics business,” the suspect was said to have confessed to a team of police investigators.
The suspect, who was dismissed some years ago, was arrested on June 4, 2023, on Gaskiya College Road, Ijora-Badiya, for allegedly impersonating as an inspector of police.
Lagos State police spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin, said the suspect who resided in Sango Ota in Ogun State was arrested while riding an unregistered motorcycle.
Hundeyin explained that a police stop-and-search team accosted the suspect and interrogated him to establish why he was riding a motorcycle on a major road despite an order banning such activity.
He said, “The suspect identified himself as a police inspector and brought out a police identification card bearing his name and photograph and depicting him as an inspector of police.
“During investigation, police got a court order to search his home at Sango Ota and conducted the search on June 8.
“In the process, a pair of uniforms with sergeant rank, one operational jacket with the inscription `SARS LAS SCORPION’, one pair of camouflage with inspector rank and one jacket with `Special Forces’ inscription were recovered.
“Also recovered from the suspect are one police belt, a pair of police boots, one camouflage T-shirt, one police beret with crest and one pair of unsewn blue uniform.’’
Hundeyin said preliminary investigation showed that the suspect had been using the uniforms since his dismissal from the police in 2017.
He added that investigation also showed that the suspect had been changing his rank anytime the police promoted his serving mates.
