By Victor Akpa-Fresh

The increasing spate of robbery attacks at Finniger bus stop, along Mile11/Badagry expressway and it’s environs is giving sleepless nights to residents of the area. Owners of different business concerns in the area which is located in satellite town, Oriade Local Council Development Area, LCDA, Lagos State have also expressed worries over the way and manner men of the under world terrorize them. Life for them, around the metropolis, has become unbearable and a nightmare as criminal activities have taken over the entire small but, densely populated area of satellite town.

One of the uncompleted buildings where the hoodlums allegedly operate from and he ever-busy Mile 11 Badagry Expressway where the robbers operate freely.

According to a resident who pleaded anonymity, these criminals take advantage of their victims when coming from work at night. He also added that a particular fast food restaurant in that area had suffered loss of huge cash at different times in the hands of the hoodlums recalling that, lifeless bodies have been found lying on the road with some parts missing obviously, for ritual purposes. He disclosed that the stretch of road at the highway has turned out to be a haven for the notorious ‘one chance’ robbers who always operate in the early hours of the morning, dispossessing both residents and passers-bye of their hard-earned money and property. “Their operation normally take place between 5 to 6am and they always operate with sophisticated weapons. No day passes without hearing sounds of gun and at the end of the day, a dead body must be seen with the vital parts missing”, he stated.

A bus driver who plies the road regualrly identified simply as Jide told Crime Alert that there was a period the Police lived up to expectations by patrolling both the highway and interiors regularly but regretted that the reverse is the case presently. “In fact, it was terrible that time, around two years back but, the police lived up to their responsibility by being visible in almost all the nooks and crannies of the area. The resultant effect was the disappearance of these dare-devils who were making life miserable to people. We all started sleeping with both eyes closed. Unfortunately, they are now back to business. Majority of their victims are the passers-bye and residents who ply the area at night including early morning risers who rush to their respective destinations to and from Lagos. They operate freely because of the nature of the terrain. Their abode seem to be the swampy and lonely forest opposite Finniger bus stop”.

A middle-aged female hawker called Ngozi told Crime alert that she has witnessed uncountable robbery operations since she started staying in the area two years ago. “They sometimes operate in either police or army uniforms armed with different dangerous weapons including guns. They always advise those of us there to look the other way or they will kill us. I can identify some of them if given the opportunity but I will not do so to the police because, they will turn around to accuse me. All I know is that I do my business there and whenever I see them, I go my way. I don’t want to be in trouble for an offence I did not commit”.The hawker called on the police to patrol the area regularly in order to safeguard lives and property which is being wasted daily.

Other residents interviewed revealed that a particular uncompleted building in the area serves as a permanent hideout for these criminals who smoke all kinds of drugs both in the day and at night. They alleged that policemen posted to a nearby junction busy themselves by extorting money from both motorists, tricycle riders and commercial motorcyclists instead of warding off the robbers.