Two suspected hoodlums said to specialize in robbing Point of Sale (POS) operators were reportedly mobbed to death on Wednesday after angry youths beat and set them ablaze in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital.
It was learnt that the incident occurred at about 10:30 in the morning, when the suspects on a motorcycle tried to overpower a POS attendant while dispensing cash to customers at Ikot Oku Ikono, near the newly commissioned fly-over bridge, on the outskirt of Uyo, the state capital, Vanguard reports.
An eyewitness Nyenime Effiong told journalists that the suspects ran out of luck when the POS attendant alerted youths, who pounced on them and immediately set fire on them before the arrival of Police operatives.
“They thought their operation would be swift, but it turned to be end-of-the-road for them. They arrived on a motorcycle, and the one on the passenger seat alighted and suddenly accosted the PoS operator with a gun and demanded for cash.
“She immediately screamed at the sight of the gun, but in a swift reaction, some commercial minibus and tricycle drivers with other angry youths trooped to the scene, chased the thieves to where they were overpowered.
“Before the motorcycle rider, who was still steaming the bike while waiting for his fellow accomplice to get the cash from the attendant, could escape, he was apprehended before he could speed away”, he explained.
The criminals, who carry out their activities using motorcycles, were also said to target pump attendants at filling stations and supermarkets on the metropolis.
It was learnt that some youths had formed vigilante groups in some crime-prone streets in the capital, including Ibiam, Atiku Abubakar, Ikpa road, Urua Ekpa, Ikot Oku Ubo, among others.
Condemning the act, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Odiko Macdon, said jungle justice has no place in criminal justice administration and would not be tolerated.
According to him, “The proper thing should have been for them to be apprehended and handed over to the police. But they took the law into their hand. An innocent person might be killed, lynched or wounded. So the best thing is to hand the person to the police.
“You cannot be the complainant, the police, the prosecutor, the judge in a matter of such nature. It’s becoming rampant and unacceptable. The Commission of Police is miffed by such development, and he has said that henceforth such act will not be tolerated.”
