Robbing of passengers in commercial buses, especially at nights or in the early hours, is common. But daylight robbery of passengers is strange. This explains why the passengers, a conductor and driver of a coaster bus with registration number XX 165 LSR, were spellbound on Thursday when some of the passengers in the bus turned out to be robbery suspects.
PUNCH METRO gathered that the bus, which was coming from Mile 2 was heading for Mile 12. But it had a stopover at Oshodi, where it picked more passengers, including the suspects.
It was gathered that midway into the journey, one of the suspects, Mr. Salawu Mumuni, was said to have ordered the driver, Mr. Friday Michael, to stop. The driver, however, ignored him and demanded his identity.
Mumuni was alleged to have forcibly moved to Michael’s side and attempted to seize the steering from him. PUNCH METRO gathered that while this was going on, the two other suspects, now at large, allegedly attempted to rob other passengers.
The passengers, numbering over 30, were said to have overpowered the two suspects, who jumped out of the vehicle and fled, while Mumuni was still trying to overpower Michael.
Some passers-by, who noticed what was happening, alerted the policemen attached to the Armoured Personnel Carrier at Gbagada.
The policemen immediately blocked the road, arrested Mumuni and took him to Pedro Police Station for further interrogation.
Micheal said Mumuni stabbed him at the feet while trying to overpower him.
Michael said, “I was coming from Mile 2 to Mile 12, when I got to Oshodi, some passengers boarded my bus. After Lagos State Traffic Management Authority’s office, one of the passengers came to me and started dragging the steering with me. He told me to park, and I asked him, ‘why did you tell me to park? Identify yourself before I can park. You are neither a police officer nor LATSMA official, so you cannot tell me to park until you identify yourself.’
“The man brought out a small penknife and held my neck and we were dragging the steering. He later stabbed me with the knife so that he could overpower me. Luckily, some policemen helped us and arrested him. The other two robbery suspects also tried to rob the passengers.
“But some of the passengers, who are men, overpowered them and two of them jumped out of the vehicle after they had collected N6,000 from my conductor.”
However, Mumuni, said he was not a robber but was trying to arrest the vehicle when the passengers resisted and overpowered him.
The suspect, who could not give a coherent identification of his employer said he lived at No. 8, Taiwo Street, Alagbole, Ogun State, and hailed from Oyo State.
“I was in front of LASTMA’s office when the vehicle stopped there and wanted to pick passengers and they told me to go and arrest the vehicle. That is how I boarded the vehicle and wanted to arrest the vehicle but the passengers did not allow me,” Mumuni said.
When asked by our correspondent whether he was employed by LASTMA, the suspect said, “no” but claimed that, “I was employed by LASTMA towing van, MOT (Ministry of Transportation). My employer is Chally Motor, the head of MOT. When I boarded the vehicle, they took me away and all the passengers held my neck and my hands.
“When they got to Gbagada, they blocked the road and called the police at Gbagada. I was the only person, who boarded the vehicle, the remaining people are LASTMA officials, and they are in the office. They called my number to know where I was but they did not allow me to pick my calls.”
The Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, Mr. Frank Mba, said the arrest of the suspect was aided by community policing and advised Lagos residents to embrace the initiative.
Mba said, “While the incident was happening, some Good Samaritan noticed the problem and alerted the Armoured Personnel Carrier policemen at Gbagada. They responded by blocking the road. That was why it was easy for them to intercept and assisted in arresting the suspect.
“The suspect is cooperating with the police and had made useful statement. Based on information available, we can assure Lagos residents that we will soon apprehend the fleeing suspects and bring them to book.”
Source:http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201011221484717
No comments:
Post a Comment