Okon Bassey in Uyo
There was pandemonium in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, yesterday as angry youths set ablaze two suspected criminals alleged to specialise in robbing Point of Sale (POS) operators and other soft targets in the city.
When THISDAY visited the scene of the incident on Abak road, the charred remains of the suspects were seen smoldering and sending thick smoke into the air.
Eyewitness said the attack on the hoodlums occurred at about 10:30 a.m., when the two robbers on motorcycle tried to overpower a PoS attendant, who was dispensing cash to customers at Ikot Oku Ikono, near the newly inaugurated fly-over bridge on the outskirt of Uyo.
Nyenime Effiong, a tricycle operator, who witnessed the incident, said the suspects ran out of luck when the alarm raised by the PoS attendant attracted angry youths, who seized them and immediately set them alight before the arrival of police operatives.
He said: “They thought their operation would be swift, but it turned to be end-of-the road for them. They arrived on motorcycle and the one on the passenger’s seat alighted and suddenly accosted the PoS operator with a gun and demanded cash.
“She immediately screamed at the sight of gun, but in a swift reaction, some commercial mini bus and tricycle drivers with other angry youths trooped to the scene, chased the thieves and overpowered them.
“Before the motorcycle rider, who was still steaming the bike while waiting for his fellow accomplice to get the cash from the attendant could escape, he was also apprehended.”
The criminals, who perpetrate their nefarious activities using motorcycles, according to some vigilant youths, “are also in the habits of targeting pump attendants at filling stations and supermarkets on the metropolis.”
Worried by the new wave of crimes hitting some soft targets as the yuletide approaches, the youths, according to
Effiong Bassey, have formed some vigilance groups in some crime-prone streets in the capital, including Ibiam, Atiku Abubakar, Ikpa roads, Urua Ekpa, Ikot Oku Ubo and other adjoining streets.
Speaking through the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Odiko MacDon, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Amiengheme Andrew, warned residents not to take the laws into their hands by administering jungle justice on criminal suspects.
He reiterated that motorcycle operations remain ban within the Uyo metropolis.
“Jungle justice has no place in law,” he said, advising that “civilians have power to arrest suspects, but must hand them over to the police for diligent investigation and prosecution.”
