‘How we monitor our victims from pedestrian bridges’

Two accused persons, Akpan Samuel and Ani Chukwuma, have told the police in Lagos how they selected who to attack whenever they wanted to rob at peak periods at bus stops. Samuel and Chukwuma, who have been charged before the Igbosere, Lagos, chief magistrate court with armed robbery and conspiracy, confessed they would first monitor […]

Two accused persons, Akpan Samuel and Ani Chukwuma, have told the police in Lagos how they selected who to attack whenever they wanted to rob at peak periods at bus stops.

Samuel and Chukwuma, who have been charged before the Igbosere, Lagos, chief magistrate court with armed robbery and conspiracy, confessed they would first monitor their victims from the pedestrian bridge at any bus stop before tracking him or her down, and would then strike.

The police told the court last Friday that the two men had been robbing motorists on the Lekki/Epe expressway in Lagos for many months before they were nabbed on October 29, 2018, by policemen, led by the Divisional Police Officer, Maroko Division, Chief Superintendent Isah Abdulmajid.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Chike Oti, said the accused revealed during interrogation that their modus operandi was to mount the pedestrian bridge, especially the one at Maruwa bus stop, Lekki/Epe expressway, where they could monitor the traffic and carefully select their target.

Oti said the two explained that after carefully selecting their preys who would be in their vehicles, they would swoop on, and rob them of their valuables. The two men were said to have added that they smash, with big hammers, the windscreens of motorists who immediately refuse to obey their command to roll down their glasses.

“The hammer and an improvised pistol that appears like a Beretta pistol were recovered from them,” he added.