Armed robbers attack Lagos communities, rob shops, passers-by

Tunde Abayomi

Robbers have attacked residents of Igbe Laara including Banana Estate within the Ikorodu area of Lagos State.

The robbers who operate both day and night, carted away property worth millions of naira within the Banana area of Igbe Laara.

At least, six houses were said to have been robbed within a week and two days in the area. But other robbery incidents in the areas have been ongoing for months.

A resident, who uses the pseudonym ‘Cataract’ for fear of an attack, said the hoodlums broke into residences when people are not at home in the afternoon.

The source said: “I’ve suffered what other residents are now going through. They broke into my house twice. At one time they stole N250,000 contribution I took home.

“They also took away my two mobile phones, those of my wife and children. The only laptop I had then, was taken away.

“Last week, they went to the house across Banana Pako bridge and stole N404,000 from a man who deals in catfish.”

At Laara, the bandits went into a boutique, pretended as if they went for shopping and asked the shop owners for prices of different items.

A resident around the area, said the robbers who were three, brought out the gun and asked the shop owner to cooperate with them and save his life.

The resident, who identified himself as Bayo, said: “They used robes to tie the shop owner two hands to his back and a solo tape to seal his mouth.

“It was during this time that they looted the shop between 3 pm to 4.30 pm. Before people were aware of what had happened, it was around 5.40 pm after the robbers had left.

“The policemen, who were standing at Alfa, Igbogbo came to Laara around 6.30 pm and began to shoot in the air to scare residents even more.”

In a similar happening, a victim, who identified himself simply as Ken, said the robbers entered his shop around 6.17 pm on Thursday and collected all the cash he made in the day.

Another victim, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the hoodlums slammed his back with the flat part of their machete as he tried to resist them from entering his shop.

He added that the bandits made away with all the money he made on Thursday.

It was observed that from Tuesday to Saturday, residents of Igbe Laara were seen closing their shops as robbers had intensified their attacks on businesses and homes.

Passers-by were not exempted as they, too were robbed of their phones and cash in the area.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said he would get back to our correspondent after contacting the Division Police Officer in the area. The PPRO never got back to our correspondent as of the time of filing this report.