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Lagos State Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Nigerian Police has arrested a 19-year-old National Diploma holder of Yaba College of Technology, Lagos for blackmailing Queen Salawa Abeni with threats to publish her nude photographs if he was not financially compensated.
The suspect, Olufowoke Oladunjoye Emmanuel, a resident of Brentfield Avenue, Peace Estate, Magboro, Ogun State, was arrested by a Decoy Team of Rapid Response Squad last week Thursday after an aggressive three days of monitoring of his activities.
The 2017/2018 Electrical Engineering student of Yabatech, disclosed to the police that he stumbled on the nude pictures in a memory card he had picked up on the floor at Yabatech sometime in November 2019.
Explaining further, “after downloading the nude photographs of Salawa Abeni on his phone, he picked up her mobile number from her Instagram page which which he called her to request for monetary compensation or publish the pictures.
Worried by the call and the pictures, Mrs Abeni was said to have in April published the pictures herself after the blackmailer sent it to her asking for an undisclosed sums of money if she refused to pay; threatening that “he would put out the pictures in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media platform.”
As a step further, the singer, popularly called “Waka Queen” spoke with a Television station where she revealed how the boy called her, sent the nude picture and threatened to publish it if not paid some money.
However, Nationalwire gathered that she reported the matter to the police for investigation.
As a result, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, therefore, in April 2020, commissioned the Commander, Rapid Response Squad, DCP Olatunji Disu to fish out the suspect.
After thorough processing and technical diagnosis of the complaint, RRS revealed on Sunday, a Decoy Team narrowed down on the suspect few days later but couldn’t immediately be picked because of the prevalence of Covid 19.
The suspect in his statement to the police confessed to have been the mastermind behind the ploy to publish some nude pictures of Waka Queen in exchange for money, adding that he was alone in the scheme.
In a confessional statement to RRS, the suspect said that he had “On 1st of April, 2020, I chatted her up and also called her after sending few of the photos to her online. My intention was to negotiate with her for few bucks and for me to destroy the photographs.
“I thought everything was going on fine until the following day when I heard the news of the blackmail over the radio. I was with my mother. She was even cursing the blackmailer unknown to her that I was the brain behind it.
“I immediately sneaked out, destroyed the memory card and threw my mobile phone and SIM card into nearby wetland in Magboro. Since then, I never mentioned it to anyone and called Madam Salawa Abeni about it again”, he disclosed.
CP Hakeem Odumosu, however, warned 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, therefore, advised guardians to monitor their wards, emphasizing that the internet is a fertile ground for opportunities but the State Command would not allow criminals use it as avenue to exploit law – abiding Lagosians.
