The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police command has warned Nigerians against using the command’s emergency contact numbers for obtaining loans.

Haruna Garba, the FCT police commissioner, issued this warning on Friday through a statement by the command’s spokesperson, Josephine Adeh.

Garba noted that some non-state actors have also been misusing these numbers and warned that those responsible will be arrested and prosecuted.

He urged that the emergency contacts should be used only for their intended purposes.

“…the CP enjoins non-state actors who have been engaging the Police emergency lines in their mischievous posts, aimed at misleading members of the public and those submitting same to obtain loans to desist from such and only use the emergency lines for its intended purpose as deliberate steps will be taken to arrest and prosecute the purveyors of these illegal acts,” the statement reads.

Garba further denied reports that kidnappers wore police uniforms to abduct 17 residents in the Apo area of Abuja.

He described the reports as “a figment of the author’s imagination.”

“The Commissioner of Police FCT hereby wish to inform members of the public that contrary to the falsehood making the rounds on media platforms alleging that kidnappers who adorned the Police uniform to perpetrate their illicit acts have kidnapped 17 persons from the Apo area in Abuja is a figment of the author’s imagination as no incident of such happened within the FCT,” he said.

He urged FCT residents to use the police control room numbers – 08032003913, 08061581938, 07057337653, and 08028940883 – to report suspicious activities.