It was the end of the road for a rookie thief, who joined his gang to rob a widow of her ‘widow’s mite’, as men of Lagos State security initiative, Operation Mesa, cut short his ambition. He was nabbed having in possession of a double barrel pistol with which he carried out the operation.
Identified as Stephen Omavigbo, the suspect, who was handed over to the police by the 9 Brig. Commander, Brigade General Hassan Muazu, told Daily Sun it was his first time in the crime world.
He said he never knew his friends were robbers, adding that he followed them to rob a woman, Vivian, in Lagos, whom he said they trailed from Intercontinental Bank at Alaba-Rago area of the metropolis.
Vivian had set out very early in the morning on that fateful day, to withdraw some money to take care of the family, oblivious of what awaited her. She had parked her car at a far distance to make ease her movement and boarded a commercial motorbike popularly called okada to bank.
Daily Sun learnt that after completing her transaction at the bank, she came out and boarded another okada to where she parked her vehicle. Just before getting to the point where she left her vehicle, the bike operator pulled out a gun. Confused, the woman jumped off the bike, astonished. The motorcyc;ist- turned robber ordered her to hand over the bag she was carrying.
At that point, the other members of the gang jumped out from their hideout and threatened Vivian to hand over the bag containing the mone..
Daily Sun learnt that she withdrew N300, 000 from the bank that afternoon and the robbers took all and were about getting away in their motorbike, when onlookers alerted soldiers attached to the Operation Mesa.
Swiftly, a detachment of OP Mesa men arrived at the scene. They started shooting to regain the area from the robbers, who had hitherto taken charge.
The robbers’ locally made pistol was no match for over seven OP Mesa’s superior firepower from FN rifles and Kalashnikov. Realizing that the operation had failed, the robbers abandoned their operation and fled the scene.
The rookie robber was left alone with the bag in one hand and the gun on the other, looking confused as to what had gone wrong. He was ordered to surrender.
He obeyed and handed over the bag containing N300, 000 and the gun to the securitymen. “It was my first time, I never knew it was robbery that they were embarking upon, my friends only asked me to see them off to somewhere,” he lamented.
Omavigho had been lamenting his action since he was arrested, but the Army had told him to “tell that to the dogs,” even as the Brigade Commander has warned that it is just the beginning for criminals. Muazu warned that his men would not hesitate to deal with criminals seeking to make the yuletide rough for law-abiding citizens.
Gen. Muazu said Omovigho and his gang would have collected N300, 000, two GSM handsets, National Identity Card and cosmetics which were inside the victim’s bag.
Source:http://www.sunnewsonline.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment