A former commander of the disbanded SARS, Vandefan Tersugh, has said that it is questionable for a young person to own a car worth N7 million in Nigeria.

Tersugh stated this when he appeared on an African Independent Television (AIT) programme on Monday.

He said this in light of the protests against the brutality of the SARS which the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Adamu Mohammed, disbanded on Saturday.

“The mandate of the policeman is to detect crime and you can detect crime also through most of these technologies coming on board,” he said.

“We were not trained during our manuals to talk about cybersecurity and cybercrime, but today cybercrime has become something very endemic in our society. And this can be done by asking questions and examining some of these things physically.”

He added that the way and manner the person responds to the questioning from the security personnel is what will determine the next action.

“If I stop you on the road and I want to have a look at your phone, I want to see your Facebook, I don’t think I have committed any crime because I am only asking you a simple question,” he said.

“It is your answer that will lead me to go beyond where I have started. I can’t detect crime by mere seeing you but by asking you questions. I have seen you with a car, and now I have assessed your age, and I know in Nigeria how difficult it is for someone who is 20, 30 to start having a car worth N7 million.

“I cannot, as a policeman, see you there and assume something is not wrong with the way you are with the car, except I am able to ask you a question and I know your background, your family background, where you are working and where you got money to buy this car.”