The past few weeks have seen the police in Abuja doing brisk business arresting operators of unregistered cabs in the city.
To fight the rising wave of one chance crime in the city, the Inspector General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase had recently issued an order for the enforcement of the ban on the operations of unlicensed taxi cabs.
Following this directive, the police now routinely arrest those who use cars hitherto registered for private use for carrying passengers. They are usually made to part with huge sums of money before being let go.
Julius Berger roundabout appears to be one of the favorite hunting grounds for the police. A lot of taxi cabs, licensed and unlicensed converge there every day to pick passengers to various parts of the city.
As nightfall approaches, the police would descend on the place and arrest as many of the unlicensed cabs as possible. They are taken to the police station nearby, where their tires are immediately deflated.
Then the extortion begins. You are told how much to pay, failing which your car would be handed over to the Department of Road Services popularly known as VIO the next day. You are told that once in the custody of the VIO, your car would be licensed and painted in official taxi color after which you would be compelled to pick the bill before it is released to you.
As you realize you don't want your car painted in taxi colors against your will, you are forced to beg the police for mercy. That is when the extortion begins.
A source who recently fell victim to this kind of extortion narrated his ordeal to Abujacitynews.
According to him, the police arrested him while picking passengers at Julius Berger roundabout in his private car. He was taken to the nearby police station where his tires were quickly deflated.
His plea that he was just looking for a little money to buy bread for the kids fell on deaf ears. He was asked to pay a bribe of eighty thousand naira if he wanted to go home with his car that night.
When it became obvious that he could not afford eighty thousand, they brought their demand down to fifty thousand.
When that too wasn't forthcoming, they came down to thirty thousand.
The man said he called his wife and neighbors but by midnight, all they could raise was fifteen thousand naira. By this time, it was clear that he couldn't do more than 15k.
So, where was he to go from there? Well, "luckily" for him, the officers of the law decided to accept what he had and let him go with his car.
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