Armed Robbers Force Housewives To Prepare Food While Raiding Home In Lagos

Gunmen suspected to be armed robbers last
fortnight stormed Celenzia Community in
Okokomaiko area of Lagos State and
subjected the residents to untold hardship
and torture.
They particularly struck at 2, Charley Pace
Street, broke into the flats and tied their
husbands together while the women were
compelled to bring all they have in their
kitchens. As the women were busy preparing
delicious dishes for them, the bandits
ransacked their apartments and collected
over N235, 000 including their valuables.
Victims said their operation started at about
7.00pm in the evening and ended at about
10:30pm.
Crime Alert learnt that before their operation,
four members of the gang sneaked into a
two-storey building at about 6.00pm and
hung around the pent house which no one
occupies for about an hour.
One of the tenants in the building was
reported to have seen them but could not
confront them thinking they were visiting a
co-tenant. It was also discovered that the
robbers used a neighbour that is familiar
with the tenants to penetrate each and
every flat in the building.When Crime Alert
visited the scene, different accounts of the
victims were taken. The first eye witness, a
tenant who pleaded anonymity said: "I was
lying down when I saw one of the robbers
loitering around and I challenged him,
asking him what he was doing in front of my
flat.He replied me aggressively and brought
out a gun, so I surrendered to him. He told
me that he will not hurt me if I cooperated
with him and that I should go upstairs into
one of my neighbour's flat because that was
where other tenants were been kept.
One robbers held tenants hostage
"When I got there, I saw the other tenants in
the room. The men had their hands tied and
their lips were sealed with tape. It was just
one robber that kept us hostage, he was
holding a gun while the rest were searching
the flats. When we were finally released, I
discovered that my flat was turned upside
down and they carted away N30,000 from
my flat."
Another victim who told Crime Alert that she
went out to throw away waste when one of
the robbers pointed a gun at her and forced
her to go back to her flat narrated her story.
She said: "I was going out to throw away
waste when one of the robbers pointed a
gun at me and ordered me back to my
flat."He said if I failed to cooperate that he
will 'seize my breadth', so I went inside. He
asked me to bring all that I have with me
and I told him that I had nothing with me,
he searched the house, collected my phone
and told me to go out and knock at the door
of other neighbours of which I told him that I
am a visitor and I don't know
anybody."Another victim said that neither
she nor her husband was around at the time
of the robbery, and that she was returning
from the market when she heard a cry for
help from the building and quickly ran to the
leader of the community security to lay her
compliant.
Community security
"I was just returning from the market when I
heard a cry from the building shouting thief!
thief!! I ran to complain to the leader of our
community security who responded immediately
but we could not catch up with the robbers who
had left before we got there."
The leader of the community security who is
simply called "Baba catch", said that he alerted
other members of the community security
immediately he was informed about the robbery
but could not catch up with the robbers.
"I was told by passers-by that the robbers crossed
through a wooden bridge that leads to another
community and that a suspected boy in a military
camouflage was caught some minutes after the
robbers crossed the same bridge but was
released after some interrogation.
"I alerted my boys immediately I was informed by
a tenant of the building that robbers invaded
their homes. We did not catch up with them and
I ordered my boys to comb the community. Later,
we were told that they crossed over to the other
community through a wooden bridge. When we
got the bridge, we sighted an under aged man in
a military polo and we stopped and interrogated
him to know who he was and he aggressively
responded that he was a solider but could not
present his identity.
"I have to call a retired military officer that lives in
the community to come and attest to the claims
and when he came, the boy later confessed not
belonging to the Nigerian army but a member of
the boyscout. That was after he was slapped on
the face by the angry ex-military officer. However,
he was freed after the interrogation."