Angry youths in the Abak local government area of Akwa Ibom State have meted jungle justice on a suspected tricycle thief, setting him ablaze while two other accomplices, including a female gang member, fled.
LEADERSHIP learnt that the incident occurred in the early hours of yesterday on the Uyo-Abak Road, near the Holy Family College (HOFACO), at Oku-Abak.
A three-man syndicate including a female gang member, according to an eyewitness, Mfon Udokang, was smashed by the vigilant youths, who rose quickly to the alarm raised by the tricycle operator.
He identified the deceased as the son of a village head in Uyo, the state capital, who migrated to the neighbouring Abak LGA, with his gang members to continue their evil acts of dispossessing unsuspecting members of the public of personal belongings, including cash, tricycles and motorcycles at gunpoint, using the female counterpart as bait.
“We have been monitoring their activities following complaints by the local residents, and when we received intelligence, we laid an ambush.
As they (the thieves) were trying to rob a commercial Keke NAPEP operator, he resisted and raised the alarm.
“The alarm attracted youths in the neighbourhood, who woke up early at about 5:00 am and rushed to the scene. The sight of us forced two of them, one male and one female, to escape quickly,” he recalled.
Despite the warning by the commissioner of police (CP), Waheed Ayilara, against the extra-judicial killing of criminal suspects, another witness, Essien Okon, said, “We decided to take the laws into our hands because each time we arrested and handed over the criminals, the police would release them to terrorise us again.”
