Armed Robbers Dressed In Police Uniforms To Attack A Punchman At Checkpoint

A gang of six armed robbers dressed in police uniform on Friday morning, attacked a member of staff of Punch Newspapers, Mr. Adeshina Afolabi, on Dolphin Estate Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, and robbed him of cash and valuables at gun point.

Afolabi said he was stopped for a search by the men, whom he took for the regular policemen that usually stayed at the spot.

He said each of the men was armed with a gun and charged at him at the same time, threatening to shoot if he refused to surrender every valuable thing he had with him, including cash.

He told our correspondent that apart from cash, he lost his phones, Automated Teller Machine cards, Punch identity card, a bag and other documents to the marauding men.

Afolabi said the robbers told him that they spared the car he was driving because of Wasiu Alabi Pasuma, whose music CD he was playing in the car.

He said, "After they took everything on me, they removed the Pasuma CD from the car stereo and asked me to go because of Pasuma.

"They did not touch me because I cooperated with them. They even removed the jacket I was wearing because one of them said he loved it.

"But immediately I left them, I saw a team of policemen on patrol and I quickly reported what had just happened to me, but they did nothing, even though it was just a few metres away from the spot where I was robbed. One of them said they would check whether the robbers would still be there, apparently to persuade me to go."  

The case was reported at the Dolphin Estate Police Station.

PUNCH