A police patrol team today near Abuja escaped being mobbed to death by hundreds of commercial motorcycle operators angered by the police rescue of a suspected robber.
For close to an hour the mob blocked the busy Abuja-Keffi expressway, causing a traffic gridlock. In the chaos, some frightened commuters abandoned their vehicles swelling the confusion.
Pointblanknews.com gathered that trouble started when the Divisional Police headquarters in New Nyanya, some 15 kilometres from Abuja, got a distress call that a mob was close to torching a suspected robber.
The suspected robber had allegedly attacked a commercial motorcycle operator, and was on the verge of making away his motorcycle when other courageous operators overpowered the assailant.
Witnesses said the police patrol team rushed to the crime scene in an area called Angwa Doka. The arrival of the policemen was said to have angered the mob.
“The mob had thoroughly beaten up the robber, and cut his head with a machete. They were preparing to burn him when the police siren rent the air. They were angry because the police came to rescue the robber,” one witness offered.
According to him, the mob thereafter turned their anger on the police, and hurled stones and bottles at the policemen.
“At least two policemen were injured and the windscreen of one of their patrol pick-ups smashed. But for the calmness of the police officers, the situation would have degenerated,” he added.
Attempts by Pointblanknews.com speak with the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) failed to yield result.
A junior officer who did not want to be quoted said they were used to such attacks. He said his wounded colleagues and the suspected robber were rushed to hospital.