Abuja-Keffi: A highway of pickpockets, bag snatchers

Thousands of people troop into the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) daily. Most people, low-income earners and civil servants who can barely afford the high cost of accommodation in the city, resort to cheaper houses in satellite towns and states bordering the FCT, especially Nasarawa. Residents that work in the FCT reside in more than seven […]

Thousands of people troop into the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) daily. Most people, low-income earners and civil servants who can barely afford the high cost of accommodation in the city, resort to cheaper houses in satellite towns and states bordering the FCT, especially Nasarawa.

Residents that work in the FCT reside in more than seven popular communities along the Abuja-Keffi expressway. Life is cheaper in most of these communities and it takes less N300 to get to Garki, thereby making it the desire of many people. As residents increase in the areas, so are criminal activities. Residents of Mararaba, New Karu, Masaka, One Man Village, Koroduma, New Nyanya, Nyanya Gwandara and other places, have had their fair share from the hoodlums that snatch phones, handbag, money and other things.

Sharing his experience with Daily Trust on Sunday, Adedayo Ayoola said, “For anyone that stays around here, if he has not been a victim, then someone close to him must have fallen victim. This is to tell you how rampant these cases are.”

At New Karu, a truck driver who simply wanted to be identified as Chinonso, has seen it both ways – as a witness and a victim. He said he had seen the hoodlums rob a woman of her handbag and had been robbed as well.

“There was a man with his daughter who was carrying a handbag and her luggage. We just saw a man who came and snatched the handbag and ran. Before we could drop our bags to pursue him he had escaped into that place that they sell shoes at the back,” he said, adding that the incident happened about 5am when they were trying to board a vehicle to another state.

Chinonso, who thought he was immune to such crimes because of his physique and smartness, was also a victim of pickpockets.

“I was going to give someone N55, 000 which I owed him. I could not take my truck because I had just N500 extra, so I said it would be cheaper to take a taxi,” he said, adding that unknown to him, he had boarded a taxi filled with one-chance syndicates.

He said it was on a Saturday and he had to sit as the third passenger beside the driver because there were already four passengers at the rear seat. “When we were going, someone was coughing vigorously and making everybody uncomfortable. When we got to One Man village, I was told to alight to allow more space for the passenger beside me because he was coming from a long distance. It was when I alighted that I discovered the money had been removed from my pocket. I took a motorcycle but could not catch up with them,” he said.

Ishaq Muktar, a commercial motorcyclist at New Karu, said handbag snatching and pick-pocketing had become ‘normal’ along the road. He said people now blame victims for not keeping their bags properly instead of blaming or running after the hoodlums.

Muktar, who has been a commercial motorcyclist for over seven years, said some of the hoodlums had different tactics, depending on the situation and position of their victims. “If someone is on okada, the thief could be on foot, but if the victim is a pedestrian, the thief would be on okada, depending on their escape plan,” he said.

Muktar said whenever the hoodlums used a motorcycle to snatch pedestrians’ handbags, they would drive against traffic and go towards the road median, thereby making it impossible to be pursued, and they would have more room to go on high speed.

A trader at Ado Junction, Aliyu M. K. said one of his customers was recently a victim of handbag snatchers.

“As she left my shop at 7pm and stepped onto the road, someone on a motorcycle suddenly snatched her handbag and ran away. I saw it but could not do anything about it,” he said, adding that the woman could only shout while others watched helplessly, obviously not surprised by the incident.

He said it was rather an unfortunate night for the hoodlums that snatched his customer’s bag as it only contained a piece of yam.

“She works for some Turkish in town and always goes with some foodstuff because she doesn’t like eating their food. That was what the thief got,” he said, adding that he was made to give the woman a transport fare to her destination.

Another popular place where the hoodlums operate is the Orange Market junction. The junction leads to one of the largest fruit market in the area, which attracts residents from the city centre in Abuja and other nearby locations. Residents said the hoodlums either snatch handbags, mobile phones and other items from their victims who are usually on motorcycles or from their vehicles.

“This morning, one woman removed her purse from her handbag to pay for the mango she had bought, before you knew what was happening, a man just snatched the purse and ran away,” a trader that pleaded anonymity due to his popularity in the area said.

He said the hoodlums usually operated after an assessment of their victims. He said such criminal activities had been going on in the area for a very long time, “It is like they have a timetable on when to operate in this area. This is because if they come today, tomorrow they will not come.’’

“This is The Jungle and the headquarters of criminals on this road,” a trader under the Mararaba pedestrian bridge, Paul Matthew, said. He said unlike other places that they carry out the nefarious act early in the morning or evening; the daylight is not a barrier to the hoodlums in Mararaba.  He said the hoodlums also pickpocket, especially during the rush hour when commuters are struggling to board vehicles to their places of work or houses, “That is why they call this place The Jungle,” he added.

He said several people would have to devise survival techniques or they would end up buying new phones every week. “I always leave my big phone at home and come here with this one worth N2,000. You cannot be too careful here. I might drop it on the table and it is gone, therefore, I do not take the risk. Even this one is always in my jeans pocket. And I always wear tight trousers so that I will know when someone is trying to remove something from my pocket,” he said. He added that it has been his survival technique for the over three years that he has been at the pedestrian bridge selling recharge cards, phone accessories and SIM cards. He said the hoodlums were very smart and always planned their escape routes.

“They know all the corners here. We are just praying that God should find a solution to this wahala,” he said.

Matthew said the hoodlums also steal from shops and business areas. Another resident said motorists are also robbed when the wound down the vehicle’s glasses.

“One woman was going somewhere and stopped to ask two guys standing by the roadside the right route to take. When one was describing the place to get the attention of the woman, the other guy just picked the two phones inside the car and ran away,” Joel Sunday, another resident said.

Sunday said the incessant cases of bag snatching and pick-pocketing had led to an increase in jungle justice in the area “because whenever someone is caught they beat and usually set them on fire,” he said.

He said one of the suspected pickpockets had his eyes plucked out when he was caught.

When contacted, the police public relations officer in Nasarawa State, ASP Samaila Usman, said he was attending a training programme and was not available for comments.