The Anambra State Police Command has denied allegations that its officers demanded N100,000 in connection with a missing wristwatch valued at $500. The command said the case is still under investigation.

In a statement issued late Thursday, the command’s spokesperson, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, explained that the complainant reported on October 17 that a wristwatch sent from abroad by a relative for delivery to an uncle in Nawfia had gone missing.

According to the police, preliminary investigations showed that the complainant’s brother had been asked to deliver the watch but mistakenly handed it to a man named Igwe Arinze at a vulcanising workshop. The brother believed Arinze worked for the intended recipient’s uncle.

Arinze was invited for questioning and reportedly said he later gave the watch to his employer, Simon Tochukwu. When contacted, Simon allegedly admitted receiving the item but claimed he returned it to the employee and told him to discard it because he thought it was an old watch. Efforts to recover it from a pile of discarded tyres were unsuccessful.

Ikenga firmly denied that officers demanded N100,000 in relation to the case. He said the handling of the matter was focused on establishing what happened to the missing watch and that the command would take appropriate lawful steps once investigations are concluded.