Ibadan residents pursue, nab daylight robbers

Luck ran out for two male armed robbery suspects in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Friday afternoon with one of them almost killed after he was viciously attacked by an angry mob at Ososami Street, Oke-Ado, even as his fleeing colleague was eventually caught in another part of the city.

An eye-witness told Saturday Tribune that charms failed the unnamed suspect who was caught while trying to escape, along with his colleague, on a motorcycle after they had successfully dispossessed their victim, a cooperative society, of about N700, 000 at the Ayegbusi end of Imalefalafia, Oke-Ado, Ibadan.

It was further gathered that it was a double tragedy for the unfortunate robbery suspects as the nylon-bag containing the money was also recovered from them by the mob.

The fleeing two-man armed robbery gang was said to have relied on the efficacy of charms as they were seen waving various amulets, even as they were shooting sporadically to the air to scare away the bewildered people who had gathered at the scene of the incident.

“The incident occurred at about 2:30pm, shortly after Jurna’t Service. The armed robbers, two of them,  had successfully robbed a micro finance cooperative group of the sum of N700, 000 at Idi-Ope. They  had also escaped from the scene of the operation, using an okada.

“However, another man on okada gave them a hot chase and, in the process, they had collusion in front of Conac Opticals. The two men tried to dispossess one man of his Nissan Micra saloon car at the  Bola Ige end of the Ososami Road, but they did not succeed as the attempt to shoot the man failed.

“Encouraged by the failure of the locally-made gun to release bullets, the angry mob who had gathered  descended on them and caught one of them, while his colleague escaped.

“One of them however escaped, while a locally-made gun was recovered from the one that was  caught and almost beaten to death before the police later came to the scene to dispatch the mob  before taking away the wounded robber,” he said.

When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Kunle Ajisebutu, confirmed the incident as he told Saturday Tribune that  the state Commissioner of Police had directed the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) to take over further investigation into the matter.

“I was told that the people stopped the two armed robbery suspects in their track. One of them was mercilessly beaten, almost to the point of death. The wounded suspect was initially taken to the Adeoyo State Hospital, but he was rejected. He has been taken to the Police Clinic where he is receiving treatment,” he said.