A driver of a minibus (Keke Bus) identified as Kelechi, has been apprehended by angry youths for allegedly giving information to members of his robbery gang to dispossess unsuspecting passengers of their belongings.
According to a Daily Sun report, the suspect, who uses a minibus without a plate number, allegedly arranges with members of his robbery gang to attack and rob his passengers in the evening.
Kelechi was nabbed at Artillery junction, Aba Road, Port Harcourt in Rivers State at about 11.pm on Sunday – yesterday, January 26 – after two ladies, he and his gang had earlier robbed, identified him when he (suspect) was about to buy petrol at a filling station along Aba Road.
One of the victims, Gloria Ephraim, in an interview with journalists narrated her ordeal in Kecechi and gang’s hands: “What happened is that, we entered motor (minibus) at Oyigbo Express; we were going to our friend’s place who was celebrating her birthday.
“The driver asked us where we were going. We told him we were going to market junction.He said we should pay N700; we said we had N500. He said we should enter.
“Then, when we entered, he drove us and stopped at a place where there was no vehicle and put fuel. Then, we were like the place you stopped us and put fuel is not good. There was a lady at the front with a guy, she was going along,
“This thing happened at the Oil Mill flyover. The driver stopped, and four guys came out with knives. They put knives under their snickers. When the four guys attacked us and asked for our phones,one of the passengers sitting at the window jumped out, ran and crossed to the other lane of the road.They did not succeed in robbing him.
“They flogged my girlfriend with a knife because she was close to the door and I was in the middle of the bus. Although the knife touched me but not the way they did to my girlfriend.
“During the incident, one of the guys said I should give him my phone or he is going to kill us and nothing will happen. I threw my phone through the window and they were beating my girlfriend with me. So, my girlfriend had to give them her phone. I did not know that one of the guys saw when I threw out my phone. The guy now collected it.
“The backside of the minibus has no glass; it is water-proof they used in covering it. After they collected our phones, as we were running, we heard the driver calling one of the guys’ names so that he should keep his own share.That was when I told my girlfriend that the driver who carried us gave us to the people who robbed us.
“As we were running, we saw a Hausa man riding a motorcycle who helped us and dropped us at Artillery.”
A youth activist, Kelvin Nwachukwu, who assisted in apprehending the driver said: “I was at Artillery junction, some girls were complaining that they were robbed by ‘One Chance’ robbers. Unfortunately for the driver of the ‘One Chance” syndicate, he was turning at Artillery to refuel at a filling station as n the girls were complaining to people.
“The girls quickly identified the driver. So, I mobilized the people they were complaining to, to apprehend the driver. We went to the filling station, and we saw some of the girls’ property inside the bus. We carried the driver with the girls to Mini-Okoro Police station.His minibus is there. His name is Kelechi, He is from Anambra State.
“We made an entry at Mini-Okoro Police Station. For now, he is still at Mini-Okoro Police station.”
The Rivers State Police Command was yet to make an official statement on the incident as at the time of this report.
