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Some traders at the popular Onitsha Main Market in Anambra State have sent a Save-Our-Souls (SOS) appeal to the newly deployed Commissioner of Police in the state, Nnanna Ama, alleging that some policemen have been breaking into their shops and carting away their goods without explanations.
The traders alleged that a team of police officers, said to be attached to the Area Command in Onitsha, have allegedly been breaking into shops in the early hours of the night and taking away goods to their station, where the owners are subsequently asked to pay huge sums of money before their property could be released.
Speaking on behalf of the traders, Nnanunyelugo Elias alleged that the officers usually carry out the raids around 10pm, when most traders had closed their shops and returned home.
According to him, the policemen, after confirming that their targeted trader had left the market with his workers, allegedly use heavy instruments and metal rods to force their way into the shops before taking away the goods.
Elias alleged that the latest incident occurred at Shop 52, Building Materials Section of the market on August 9, 2026, when five police officers identified as Inspector Anthony, Inspector Elijah, Sergeant Daniel, Sergeant Ebo and Assistant Superintendent of Police Sebastine allegedly invaded a medicine store.
He claimed that the officers broke into the shop and removed drugs estimated at over N50 million before allegedly conveying the goods in a police pickup van to the Area Command, said to be under the supervision of an Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP Temitope.
“The raid was carried out without any official document, no search warrant and no court order,” he alleged.
According to him, the owner of the medicine store went to the Area Command early the following morning to inquire about his goods, but was allegedly told that they had been taken to a government ministry responsible for confiscated goods.
He further alleged that the owner was not informed of the offence for which the goods were seized, the identity of the ministry or where its office was located.
“Rather, one of the policemen at the station whispered to him that his drugs had been sold and advised him to quietly leave the station before he was detained,” Elias alleged.
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He said the trader, who had allegedly lost goods worth about N50 million, was forced to leave the station without recovering his property.
Elias alleged that the incident was not an isolated case, claiming that other traders had previously experienced similar raids but were afraid to speak out because they believed they had nobody to defend them.
He appealed to the new Commissioner of Police to investigate the allegations and identify all officers involved in the alleged activities, stressing that the officers were well known within the market.
“We are therefore calling on the new Commissioner of Police to swing into action by identifying all the policemen involved in these dubious deals because they are well known.
“They should be removed so that they would not spoil the good work he came to do in the state. Two of the officers we mentioned earlier were also involved in the latest shooting at Onitsha Head Bridge, but their heads are shielding them.
“So, the police boss should not spare any of them, including their bosses,” he alleged.
The traders warned that Onitsha, being one of the major commercial hubs in the South-East, is a volatile city where indiscriminate actions by security personnel could worsen tensions and further damage public confidence in the police.
“Onitsha is a very volatile city as a commercial nerve centre in the eastern part of the country. If such officers are allowed to continue holding sway, they will bring more bad name to the police,” Elias said.
The traders urged the new police commissioner to urgently investigate the allegations, ensure accountability and protect law-abiding traders from any form of harassment, extortion or unlawful seizure of their goods.
