The operatives of the Lagos State Rapid Response Squad (RRS) have arrested a 19-year-old National Diploma holder of Yaba College of Technology, Lagos for being the brain behind the attempted blackmail of Queen Salawa Abeni with her nude photographs.
The suspect, Olufowoke Oladunjoye Emmanuel, a resident of Brentfield Avenue, Peace Estate, Magboro, Ogun State, was picked up by the decoy team of the Rapid Response Squad last week Thursday, after three days of surveillance and monitoring of his activities.
The State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, speaking on the arrest, stated that after the Salawa Queen made the issue of the blackmail public in April 2020, he directed the Commander, Rapid Response Squad, DCP Olatunji Disu to fish out the suspect.
He said after a preliminary investigations, the Decoy Team narrowed down on the suspect a few days later but could not effect the arrest immediately due to COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown directive by the Federal Government.
“The suspect has confessed to the Police that he is behind the attempt to blackmail the Musician with some of her nude pictures found on a sim card in exchange for money and that he was alone in the dubious scheme”, Odumosu said.
He averred that the suspect is a 2017/2018 Electrical Engineering student of Yabatech, who discovered the nude pictures in a memory card picked up on the ground at Yabatech in November 2019, adding that after downloading the nude photographs of Salawa Abeni to his phone, he contacted her through the mobile number on her Instagram page to ask for money.
On his part, the RRS Commander, DCP Olatunji Disu, stated that no individual would be allowed to commit a crime in Lagos from any State or escape to other States in Nigeria to evade arrest.
He advised guardians to monitor their wards, emphasising that the internet is a fertile ground for opportunities but the State Command would not allow criminals to use it as an avenue to exploit law-abiding Lagosians.