Robbers shoot 3, dispossess travelers at Omoko village

uspected armed robbers on Tuesday opened fire on a vehicle and dispossessed some travellers of their monies and other valuables in an operation that left at least three persons critically injured.

A witness said the incident happened at about 2: 23 a.m. when the robbers, over 10 in number, emerged from a bush with weapons and started stopping motorists.

He said the robbers opened fire on an unmarked commuter bus that was carrying 18 passengers from Lagos to Abuja after the driver tried to escape.

“From what one of the victims, who sustained bullet wounds said, the driver attempted to reverse when he saw the bandit but they shot at his tyre,’’ he narrated.

The witness said he heard the gunshots and decided to mobilise local hunters to the scene but that the robbers had fled before they got there.

He added that the three passengers hit by the robbers’ bullets were taken to a nearby hospital.

Efforts to get reaction of the Chikara divisional police officer were not successful, but a police officer at the station said the police only got information that some hoodlums attacked a vehicle owned by a resident of the community on Wednesday.

“None of the victims came to report. Our highway patrol team has been carrying out 24 hours’ surveillance on the Abuja-Lokoja axis,’’ he said.

In a separate incident, three persons were seriously injured in a motor accident which occurred on Tuesday morning near an army checkpoint at Abaji, on the Abuja- Lokoja expressway.

A witness said the accident happened around 11:23 a.m. when an unmarked Honda car lost control and drove into a ditch.

He said those injured were rescued by men of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on patrol.

When contacted, Abaji unit commander of the FRSC, Moses Audu, confirmed the accident, saying those injured were taken to Abaji General Hospital.