The Special Fraud Unit arm of the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department, Ikoyi, Lagos receives about 2,000 petitions annually, The Point has learnt.
Also, the SFU has beefed up security around its premises in the highbrow Ikoyi area of Lagos State.
The petitions, according to insider sources, are usually vetted by the Legal Section of the police unit located at Milverton Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
The idea of allowing the petitions to undergo legal scrutiny, it was gathered, might not be unconnected with the fact that if a fact in any issue is very civil in nature, it means that the police have no business investigating it.
“So, such a case is traditionally turned down. And yearly, over 500 petitions that are very civil in nature are turned down by officers, who would advise the petitioners on what to do,” an impeccable source said.
According to findings, majority of the cases being handled by the security outfit bear on money laundering, bank fraud, over-invoicing, contracts scam, Yahoo mail scam and other related matters.
Insider sources, however, disclosed that over 5,000 cases were handled by the department last year alone, because not all cases were pursued through petition writing.
“Some complainants were known to have made direct complaints to the police authority.
Such direct cases are methodically investigated to determine if they would stand prosecution,” he said.
The Point was also informed that over 20 cases were successfully prosecuted by the police last year, when some victims of fraud got justice.
“SFU is not just about arrest and detention. What we do largely here is to prevent crimes from occurring. If a crime did not take place, there would be no reason to investigate. It is only in isolated cases that we dwell extensively on investigation after which a crime must have been committed.
Therefore, the whole idea here is proactive policing,” the source said. With a staff strength of over 50, the police SFU ”has continually played a noble role in stemming the tide of criminalities in the country.
Recall that the unit handled the fuel subsidy fraud that was ostensibly committed by some prominent Nigerians,” he added.
Meanwhile, security within the SFU facility has been enhanced. At the entrance to the sprawling building are armed officers, screening visitors with metal detectors, after briefly interrogating them.
The spokesperson of the unit, Superintendent of Police, Isuntume Agwu, said it was a routine exercise to ascertain visitors’ identity.
