A Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and three other policemen are facing trial over the loss of arms and ammunition.
According to investigations, the Police officers attached to the Amassoma Division have been facing trial as a fallout of the armed attack on the Amassoma Police Division during which cache of arms and ammunition were carted away.
The same hoodlums after the attack on the Police station had attacked a commercial bank with dynamites.
The officers, if found guilty could be dismissed from the force for dereliction of duty or demoted.
A human right group, Zuonaki Human Rights Initiatives (ZUHURI), yesterday slammed the authorities of the state police command over its decision to suspend and subject the officers to trial over the incident.
According to ZUHURI, though, the police authorities have refused to explain the reasons for the disciplinary actions against the affected officers, the wrongful arrest and trial of the affected policemen over the loss of arms and ammunition during the invasion by suspected sea pirates is unnecessary and wicked.
The group, in a statement issued yesterday by its National Coordinator, Comrade Ebiserikumo Gbasa, accused the authorities of the state police command of witch hunting the officers involved.
“The DPO and his men of Ijaw extraction are undergoing trial; the State Commissioner of Police should have carried out a thorough investigation in an unbiased and professional manner to determine what transpired during the invasion of the Amassoma Divisional Police headquarters and the bank.”
“Rather than stand by his men, who were on official duty, the Police authorities have applied a bias and prejudiced process that is expected to find the set of reputable officers wanting and dismiss them. The alleged and wrongfully accused officers and men are undergoing trial solely designed to rubbish and tarnish their image and reputations” the statement said.
Gbasa called on the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, to review the charges against the affected officers and stop the bias trial.