Ex-SARS Boss: Any Young Man In N7m Car Is A Suspect

By Emmanuel Adigwe

A former commander of the dissolved special anti-robbery squad (SARS), Vandefan Tersugh, has stated that it is suspicious for a young person in Nigeria to have a car worth N7 million. 

The retired superintendent of police disclosed this on Monday while appearing on ‘Focus Nigeria’, a programme on AIT.

According to Tersugh, operatives of SARS can’t detect crime just by “mere seeing you” but have to come closer to the person to find out about the source of income of the person.

The former commander who was speaking in respect to the recent nationwide protests against the anti-robbery squad for their high handedness and extrajudicial killings stated that with the increase in cybercrime, it is imperative to interrogate physically.

“The mandate of the policeman is to detect crime and you can detect crime also through most of these technologies coming on board,” he said.

“We were not trained to talk about cybersecurity and cybercrime, but today cybercrime has become something very endemic in our society. And this can be done by asking questions and examining some of these things physically.”

He further disclosed that police officers do not need a search warrant in such situations stressing that the manner the person replies determines the next line of action for the security operative.

He said: “If I stop you on the road and I want to have a look at your phone, I want to see your Facebook, I don’t think I have committed any crime because I am only asking you a simple question.

“It is your answer that will lead me to go beyond where I have started. I can’t detect crime by mere seeing you but by asking you questions. I have seen you with a car, and now I have assessed your age, and I know in Nigeria how difficult it is for someone who is 20, 30 to start having a car worth N7 million.

“I cannot, as a policeman, see you there and assume something is not wrong with the way you are with the car, except I am able to ask you a question and I know your background, your family background, where you are working and where you got money to buy this car.”

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