FCT CP warns residents against illegal police phone searches

The Commissioner of Police in the Federal Capital Territory, Ahmed Sanusi, on Tuesday advised residents, particularly youths, not to allow police officers to search their mobile phones during stop-and-search operations, describing the practice as a violation of the directive issued by the Inspector-General of Police.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, Sanusi said indiscriminate phone searches had fuelled extortion and abuse by some security operatives, insisting that officers had no authority to demand access to the phones of members of the public on the road.

“The issue of phone searching has been clearly stated. Due to the abuse and extortion tendencies of some officers and men, not only of the Police but even other sister agencies, it has been instructed that nobody should search any phone,” he said.

The police commissioner, however, explained that mobile phones could be examined as evidence only after a suspect had been lawfully arrested and taken to a police station as part of an investigation.

“This does not negate the fact that phones are also being used to commit crime. But before such a thing can happen, the person must have committed the crime, must have been properly arrested and brought to the station. Then, when trying to uncover some evidence, you can now start searching to see whether the phone or other items have been used to commit or perpetrate such crime,” Sanusi stated.

He stressed that no police officer had the power to stop members of the public and demand access to their phones based on mere suspicion of internet fraud or any other offence.

“But for you to just stop anybody on the road and say, ‘Bring your phone, let me search’… any policeman who stops you on the road, according to the instructions of the Inspector-General of Police, we are bound to obey to the last of it. Don’t agree. Don’t open your phones. Resist,” he said.

Sanusi urged residents confronted by officers insisting on searching their phones to immediately contact the police emergency line or seek help from nearby police personnel.

“Ask the nearby people to help you call the police emergency landline. You will see our men there, and then we will ask them why, provided they are within the FCT. If they are outside the FCT, then you will call your Command CP,” he added.

The FCT police boss reaffirmed the command’s commitment to enforcing the IGP’s directive banning indiscriminate phone searches and warned that any officer found violating the order would face disciplinary action.

“So I can tell you for free that we are still against that. We still stand against that. We will still enforce the IG’s directive. Some of them are on the attack because they are criminally minded. They want to perpetuate such acts. If we get them, they will face disciplinary actions and will be made to face the consequences,” Sanusi said.