Police Officers attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Anambra State, have been accused of assaulting a female National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member during a raid on her home.
The Corps member, identified as Akinlabi said the SARS members broke into her apartment by 2am while she was fast asleep and naked and Physically assaulted her claiming to be looking for fraudsters also known as Yahoo Boys.
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She said the incident which occured on September 17 traumatised her because she felt the SARS officers were armed robbers.
Narrating her experience to Punch Newspaper, the Corps member said;
“Around 2am on that day, a team of people invaded our compound claiming to be SARS and searching for Yahoo guys.
“They broke my window net, pointed their torchlight at my face while asleep and commanded me to open the entrance door for them.
“I was scared to do as they commanded because I couldn’t identify who they were. Rather, I shouted and ran into the passage for help.
On getting to the passage, I saw another set of people at the window, threatening to deal with me if I did not open the door.
“As I continued to shout for help, one of my neighbours opened her door for me and I entered her room. I was shocked as they still came to the window of the woman, insisting that we must open the door or they would break it.
“Some of them later broke into an empty room by cutting off the burglary proof and entering the passage. The others broke the burglary proof of the room we were and opened the door for others to have access to the room. They started assaulting me by slapping and hitting me with cutlasses and sticks.
“At this point, I was practically naked and had to plead with them to allow me to put on my clothes, which they eventually allowed me to do. But they violated my privacy, as I was forced to dress up in their presence.
The beating continued after that and I got handcuffed like a common criminal for an offence I knew nothing about.”
The Corps member demanded for Justice from the Police Command for being treated like a criminal by SARS members.