Robbers, Kidnappers Devise New Tactics in Akwa Ibom

Since the Akwa Ibom State Government banned commercial motorcycles in Uyo, the capital, residents have been having a hard time coping with the activities of robbers and other criminals.

Many residents have lost their possessions to armed robbers while commuting in commercial tricyles, the alternative means of transportation in the city.

 Recounting her experience to CRIME DIGEST in Uyo, one of the victims, Kindness Effiong, 24, said, “We were only two passengers in the tricycle, a woman and myself. We were heading to Nwaniba. The tricycle had hardly moved a short distance when a man beckoned on the rider, walked up to him and asked to be taken to Osongama Housing Estate. The rider then proceeded to Osongama without seeking our consent.
“Immediately the tricycle got to a secluded area, the man began to drag our bags. As we struggled to wrest the bags from him, he brought out a gun and pointed it at us. We surrendered everything we had to him. The robber and the rider ordered us to get down from the tricycle and they zoomed off.”

Another victim, Bassey Okon, who was seen at the MTN office trying to retrieve a SIM card, told our correspondent that he was robbed inside a tricycle on Aug. 17.

Okon had thought that roads in Uyo were safe, since motorcycles had been banned and policemen patrolled various parts of the city. But he discovered soon enough that he was wrong.

He said, “I closed late from work that day at about 8.15 pm. I boarded the tricycle to Nsikak Eduok Junction. Midway I was robbed of all I had. I had to trek home that day.”

When he was contacted for his reaction to the development, the chairman of the Akwa Ibom branch of the Tricycles Association of Nigeria, Mr. Sunny Enang, did not rule out the possibility that robbers were using tricycles to attack their victims and dispossess them of their belongings.

He said, “Some hoodlums attempted to rob a local government agent who was selling tickets. They used one tricycle operator. We were able to apprehend some of them. When we took them to the police station, the tricycle rider said the hoodlums had pretended as if they were normal passengers. He did not know they were robbers. Sometimes, when it happens like this, some of these tricycle operators are helpless and they can do nothing about it.”

But Enang noted that there were some bad eggs among commercial tricycle operators in Uyo whose sole intention was to engage in criminal activities.

 “Some of those who were using motorcycles to commit crime are here with us. We are still trying to re-orientate them. If somebody has a criminal motive in doing anything, that person will surely be caught. We are pleading with them not to use tricycles for criminal activities. We are all out to fish out the bad eggs,” he said.

Source: PUNCH