There are strong
indications that some members of the dreaded one-million-boys gang, who went
underground after massive police onslaught that led to the arrest of more than
400 of them a few months ago, may have resurfaced. Sunday Sun gathered that in
the past two weeks some robbers suspected to be members of the gang have laid
siege to some streets around Peoples/Berger area of Ajeromi/Ifelodun Local
Government Area of Lagos State.
They robbed with
impunity, according to residents. Streets worse hit in the resurgence of the
criminals are George Street and Palace Road. For instance, on George Street,
the robbers struck repeatedly within days. They robbed residents of house No.1
two weeks ago and few days later, precisely on Thursday, November 29, they
stormed No. 51, Palace Road. And just four days later, on December 2, revisited
No 3, George Street. The attack on No. 3, George Street was the second.
On the same street,
they also recently robbed houses No. 8 and 4. A resident of No. 1, Mr, Chuks
Ezekiel, who recounted the incident to Sunday Sun, stated that on the fateful
day, the robbers came around 4 a.m. and robbed five people, dispossessing them
of money and cell phones. He added that they came in a group of five armed with
guns. Ezekiel, who said he had lived on the street for 10 years, lamented the
situation, saying it was an ugly development. “They robbed about five people
downstairs and this is the first time such a thing was happening since I
started living here,” he said.
A female victim in
the attacked one-storey building, who gave her name simply as Mrs. Okeke, said
the robbers came to her apartment with torchlight and demanded money from her
at gunpoint. “I told them I didn’t have any money. They asked for my phone and
I showed it to them and they collected it,” she said, adding that her kids were
in the house when the robbers came, but no one was harmed. According to her,
the robbers went from one apartment to another, but left “when they felt that
everybody was at alert”. On the impact of the incident on residents, she said,
“we are now protecting ourselves with prayers” before we go to bed. Also
speaking on the robbery menace, a resident of No.3, Mr. Anyaso Ernest, who was
also a victim when the house was attacked at 3 a.m., said he lost a phone with
two SIM cards and a wallet with his identity card, among other documents.
He said his brother,
who came visiting from Delta State, was also robbed. “My brother who came from
Warri on Saturday evening was robbed of his handset and wallet containing
N5,500,” said Ernest, who was a former executive member of Residents
Association. Another female victim, who preferred anonymity, said because she
was nursing a baby, her husband pleaded profusely that the robbers should have
pity on them. The robbers were said to have gained access to the upper floor by
climbing the handrail because the staircase on the ground floor had been
fortified with iron-gate after the residents’ first experience. At No.51,
Palace Road, the robbers were more brutal, beating some residents and tying up
others. They robbed three apartments, according to the residents.
The robbers
numbering four were said to have made straight for the middle floor on gaining
access into the building where they tied up the occupants, threatening to kill
them if they failed to surrender their money. Head of the family, one Chief
Gilbert Ekwueme, later succumbed to their demand and allegedly gave them about
N800, 000. The robbers also carted away two laptops, five blackberries and two
other phones as well as some recharge cards belonging to Ekwueme’s wife. The
couple was locked up in their apartment before the hoodlums moved to the second
floor and attacked the occupants. One Pastor Joy and her husband were beaten
mercilessly when they denied having any money at home. Unable to bear the
torture, Joy was said to have surrendered about N30, 000 of the church funds
with her, while the robbers also collected their phones.
“The woman said
later that she could not withstand the beating,” recounted a tenant who gave
his name as Abraham Ajaka, secretary of Palace Road/Cemetery Landlord and
Tenants Association. Not done, the robbers were said to have moved to the boys’
quarter section of the building where one Henry Dede lives and allegedly made
away with about N120, 000 from the man and his wife. Following the ugly
development, it was gathered that residents in these areas and environs now
live in fear.
However, according
to the residents, they have come up with some security arrangements to
checkmate the criminals. They disclosed that the matter had been reported at
nearby Trinity Police Division and some security strategies had been put in
place. In fact, it was gathered that 30 minutes after the Palace Road robbery,
policemen from the division raced to the scene after a belated distress call,
but the robbers had disappeared into the night when they arrived. “The police
asked us what happened, and after narrating our ordeal to them, they left.
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