A human rights coalition has accused operatives of the anti-kidnapping unit of the Imo State Police Command, popularly known as Tiger Base, of running a vast extortion racket in which detainees and their families were allegedly forced to pay between ₦200,000 and ₦20m for release.
The Coalition Against Police Tiger Base Impunity (CAPTI) made the allegation in a report released on Wednesday, documenting what it described as “systematic, egregious and routine” human rights abuses at the Owerri-based facility between 2021 and 2025.
According to the report, the unit frequently intervened in civil disputes such as tenancy and commercial disagreements, detaining individuals unlawfully and accusing them of links to the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra to justify prolonged incarceration and extortion.
“The arbitrary detention system fed a lucrative extortion operation, with families forced to pay between ₦200,000 and ₦20m to secure releases, even in matters that should have been handled through civil courts,” CAPTI stated.
The group alleged that suspects who resisted payment were subjected to torture, including starvation, electric shocks, prolonged suspension, crucifixion-like positions and other forms of degrading treatment, aimed at forcing confessions or extracting ransom.
CAPTI cited the case of Opara, a 59-year-old civil servant, who was reportedly arrested and detained for three days over a landlord-tenant dispute already before a court.
The report alleged that his investigating officer drafted his statement without hearing his explanation and demanded ₦700,000 for bail, later reduced to ₦200,000 after negotiations.
“Opara was forced to pay ₦200,000 in what was purely a civil matter and made to sign an undertaking to vacate the property before his rent expired, under threat of rearrest,” the group said.
Another victim, Chinedu, a 52-year-old businessman, was said to have been arrested twice over the same commercial dispute, detained for 30 days during the first arrest and 60 days during the second, allegedly paying ₦400,000 and ₦300,000 respectively for bail.
The report also recounted the ordeal of a detainee who was allegedly hanged from a tree within the facility for hours to force a confession. When his family failed to raise a ₦2m bail demand, he was reportedly charged with terrorism and remanded in prison custody.
CAPTI said the victim continued to suffer permanent injuries from torture when its researchers met him at the Owerri Correctional Centre in November 2025.
The coalition further alleged that Tiger Base officers routinely told families of missing persons that their relatives were “IPOB suspects,” parading detainees before the media with weapons allegedly planted on them to justify abuse and illegal detention.
The report claimed that at least 200 detainees either died or disappeared in custody at the facility within the four-year period, naming several victims while noting that many others remained unidentified.
“Tiger Base operated as a black hole where constitutional rights are entirely denied. Detainees are held for weeks or months without charges, denied access to lawyers and cut off from family contact,” CAPTI said.
The group said it interviewed 57 individuals during its investigation, including 23 former detainees and 15 family members of persons who allegedly died or vanished while in custody.
CAPTI added that despite multiple petitions submitted to the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, the Police Service Commission and the National Human Rights Commission, no conclusive investigation had been carried out and no officer prosecuted.
Efforts to get a reaction from the Imo State Police Command were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report.
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