Personnel of Edo State Police Command have arrested two officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) over the alleged killing of a passenger on the Agbor Road in Benin City, the state capital.
The arrested officers were identified as Francis Igboh and Samson Alolade.
According to the police, the deceased, identified as Odion Samuel, 36, had boarded an Audi 80 car being used as a cab when the FRSC personnel flagged down the vehicle on the Owuahe Hill, Agbor Road, Benin on Monday.
However, the deceased was accused of backing the taxi driver in resisting alleged acts of extortion by the FRSC officers.
In the midst of the altercation between the officers and the deceased, the driver fled the scene and left his passenger at the mercy of the FRSC men.
The officers were said to have descended on Samuel and chased him as he ran into a nearby bush, where he was beaten to death.
Meanwhile, the driver returned to Samuel’s residence, where he had picked him up, to inform his relatives of the incident, but he was accused of kidnapping and handed over to the police in Abudu.
Police investigation, however, led to the arrest of the two suspects, who took investigators to the bush, where the decomposing body of the deceased was recovered.
Confirming the incident to journalists on Tuesday, the Edo state police spokesman, DSP Chidi Nwabuzor, said: “Our operatives from the homicide section of the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department, police headquarters, Benin City, are investigating the case. It is a case of murder.”
He added that efforts were on to apprehend two other FRSC officers involved in the incident, Joseph Onolade and Sunday Ogi.
