The Commissioner of Police (CP), Lagos State, Mr Hakeem Odumosu, has condemned and described the viral video, where two policemen were attacked and alleged to have stolen mobile phones, as false.
Odumosu condemned and falsified the content of the viral video in a statement signed on Tuesday by CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer on Tuesday.
He said that the incident, which he described as mischievous, allegedly happened on Friday at the Computer Village, Ikeja, Lagos.
“The authors of the referred viral video painted the incident mischievously and in a bad light with an attempt to ridicule the entire Nigeria Police Force.
“The policemen never went to buy phones, neither were they caught in any act of theft at the computer village.
“The HP Electronics Company’s taskforce on piracy with the police operatives was on a routine operation against piracy and sub-standard products in the market,” he said.
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The CP said that some hoodlums, in a bid to distract and halt the anti-piracy operation, created a scene by attacking the team and passing uncomplimentary remarks on the policemen.
“The team was eventually chased away by the hoodlums and did not allow the operation to succeed, due to their criminal tendencies.
“The policemen are not thieves, but operatives on official and legal operation, contrary to the wrong impression painted by the originators of the fake video on social media.
“The State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is investigating the theft allegation and attacks on the policemen and the team,” he said.
Odumosu said this type of false allegation and attack on police operatives was the third of its kind in recent time in the same computer village.
“The command will not tolerate any act of criminality and lawlessness in any part of the state.
“The general public must desist from launching attacks on the police and other security agents; and peddling fake news that will dent our national integrity and honour, which we all guard jealously,” he said.