Emmanuel Thomas l Sunday, November 12, 2017
OSHODI, Lagos, Nigeria – Armed robbers who specialise in robbing residents and visitor in the Lagos traffic have shifted their focus to the Murtala Muhammed Airport/Oshodi Road robbing passengers and dispossing them of ther items at will, following commencement of construction work in the axis.
The armed robbers we gathered are catching in on the road construction in the axis which has engendered a very slow-paced movement of vehicles. Among their victims so far are British and American travellers. “They smatch windscreen of vehicles at gunpoint in their bid to have access to occupants”, an eye witnessed has said.
“Three of my colleagues were victims of an armed robbery attack on Monday, November 6, 2017 on their way from the international airport to the Eko Hotels. They arrived Lagos safely at about 5pm and were stuck in a very bad traffic for about three hours in Oshodi.
“The vehicle in which they were conveyed was attacked around 8.20pm around Oshodi axis in a very bad traffic. The assailants were four in number and surrounded the vehicle. Immediately the two assailants at the back windows smashed the windows and immediately yelled at them “where is the money”.
“One of the passengers lost her laptop, wallet, cash and travel passport. The second colleague lost her IPhone. Thankfully the driver was very calm he did not look into their eyes and was focused, he tried to manouever but the road was tight. He bashed some other vehicles that did not wait also trying to escape from the attack”, the eye witness said.
We gathered that the victims were told at Ilupeju police station, where they reported the incident the next day that same day lots of robbery attacks took place around that place and time.
“We were also told that two Britons just left the police station, they were attacked and also lost all their valuables including their passports, bags, phones etc. My colleagues were not physically harmed and have stabilized.
“The passport was also reissued yesterday by the U.S. Consulate. Many thanks to our efficient colleagues at the Consulate for their support”, he said.
He added that the police has dvised that pending when the Oshodi construction work will be completed, once it is 4pm travellers should take the international/local airport axis to Maryland and make a turn towards Ojota to connect Alapere to the third mainland.
“They confirmed that Maryland towards Anthony to connect with the bridge is also not safe. We are also approaching the festive period and need to be more security conscious”, the police has warned.
