The Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Tuesday Assayomo, has banned police officers in the state from carrying out indiscriminate searches on phones of cybercrime suspects in the state.
Students of tertiary institutions in the state and young internet service providers have been the most affected by the action of the police officers.
Daily Trust gathered that the issue had led to several violations of the rights of the victims by the police.
The CP who described the action as “incessant and indiscriminate,” said the “menace of searching expensive phones and laptops of young persons suspected to be Yahoo boys by policemen in the state is becoming unacceptable.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Kwara Command, Ajayi Okasanmi, further said in the statement that the CP has “directed that henceforth policemen are forbidden outright from searching phones and laptops of persons at random.
“Except the phones and laptops are products of investigation approved by the commissioner of police himself.
“Members of the public are hereby advised to report any contrary action against this order to the commissioner of police”.
Okasanmi who provided some dedicated lines to report any officer who goes against the CP order further advised members of the public to be law-abiding and eschew every form of violence.