Angry residents disarm, arrest armed robber

Fed up with incessant robbery attacks on the community, residents of Oworonsoki Local Council Development Area of Lagos State on Friday defied death as they challenged four armed robbers suspected to have been terrorising the area.

They eventually ended up disarming the robbers and rounding them up. But three of the robbers managed to escape. One was, however, not that lucky.

The suspect, who was identified as Eyinna, was said to have been beaten up by the mob before the arrival of the police at the scene.

The armed robber was said to have been caught because he could not run fast enough to escape the mob due to an injury he had on his foot.

An eyewitness, who craved anonymity for security reason, said the robbers had used the opportunity of the usual early morning traffic on the Olopo Meji end of the Oworonsoki Expressway, to rob car owners of their valuables.

Spurred on by the degree of their success, they were said to have tried to rob a woman of her Honda Accord car when the victim raised the alarm which drew the attention of residents.

He added that as the men dragged the steering with the woman, the car crashed into another vehicle which was also stuck in the early morning heavy traffic.

He said, “It was around 6am on Friday morning. People suddenly began hearing a woman screaming for help on Berger Bus Stop. We all rushed to the scene.

“When the robbers saw that the residents were not intimidated by their guns, they began to run. The people pursued them because they were determined to get them.

“Three of them escaped, but people got Eyinna while he was trying to scale the fence. We saw he could not run well because he was limping.”

He said a lot of money was found in the shoes of the suspect, while he was also found with handsets and other valuables.

The source said the police were called to the scene after some of the angry residents had beaten Eyinna to stupor.

Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, Ngozi Braide, who confirmed the incident, said the suspect died from injuries he sustained during the beating.

She said, “The Bariga Police Station indeed received a distress call that there was a mob action going on around Oworonshoki, Berger Bus Stop on Friday morning.

“They discovered that it was a four-man robbery gang, that was trying to drag the steering of a car from a woman.  The residents were able to apprehend only one of them. But the man could not talk, because he had been seriously injured. He died at the hospital where we rushed him to.”

Braide added that the owner of the damaged vehicle had made statements to the police on the incident.