Armed
robbers
kill
auto
dealer
Saka Gbeminiyi
PANDEMONIUM
broke out at Isolo Area
of Lagos last Tuesday when an armed robbery gang on motor bike struck and killed an auto dealer operating in the area and wounded others.
The incident which occured around 2pm Sunday Tribune learnt was due to attempts by the gang to cart away N4million. Sunday Tribune gathered that the auto dealer, simply identified as Owode, traded in trailers and other articulated vehicles.
Police sources told Sunday Tribune that the problem started when some people approached the dealer at his his Iyana Isolo warehouse. The people registered with him for the purchase of two trailers and they reached an agreement.
“Some customers went to his warehouse to purchase two trailers and they agreed on a price. The deceased and two customers went to a bank to withdraw N4milion probably for the cost of the vehicles (two trailers). The deceased took them to the bank in his car, a brown Nissan Bluebird with the registration No. AS 132 KRD and they were coming when the armed robbers attacked them off Abimbola way, Isolo. They shot the man dead (dealer) and the two customers also sustained serious injuries, a police source told Sunday Tribune.
Police source’s revealed that the robbers must have acted on information by people who knew about the transaction.
“It is possible that the robbers acted on information. Again, it is possible that the robbers saw them when they packed the money in the car boot. The way the armed robbers acted suggested that they were very sure of where the money was kept, because they went straight to open the boot of the car, but they were not successful because some youths who saw what was happening mobilized and chased them away”, the source.
When Sunday Tribune visited the place, it looked desolate. A trader who identified himself as Uche Okafor told Sunday Tribune the boys (armed robbers) came on three motor bikes.
“They were six in number and from the way they operated it was like they have been trailing them from the bank up to Abimbola Way when they moved close to the car and started shooting the occupants. The dealer (Owode) was killed in the process and the other occupants sustained bullet wounds.
“The robber thereafter attempted to open the boot of the car but had to abandon it when they saw the crowd had gathered”.
The incident was reported at Ilasamaja Police Station. The corpse of the deceased was deposited at the morgue while the wounded occupants were taken to Ikeja General Hospital.
Meanwhile, the residents of Isolo area in Oshodi Isolo Local Government area have called on police authorities to always ensure frequent police patrol in the area. The residents lamented that the area, being an industrial estate is always the target of armed men.
“Armed robbers always strike here, in fact it is now a daily occurence, we hear gun shots every now and then. It is like a war zone”, one of the residents lamented.
