Robbers Target PoS Operators In Lagos
LAGOS NOVEMBER 26TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Nigerians who have taken to operating Point of Sales as a means of business and survival are living in fear following reported cases of robbers hunting and targeting them.
Operators in Mowe, Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State and those in Ayobo area of Lagos State have already experienced the venoms of these robbers and are still recounting the incidents.
At the Mowe community in Ogun State, residents were alleged to have got used to their homes and shops being burgled.
They also accepted that nothing could be done by security agents in Ogun State about incessant cases of motorcycles snatching, but presently, they are visibly perturbed following this single minded latest attacks of PoS operators.
The daredevil robbers, on most nights, will attack the home of an operator and dispossessed the victim of all his or her money, used in transacting the business.
They also collect other valuables.
One of their victims at Mowe, who simply gave her name simply as Alhaja Bola, explained that she and her husband were sleeping with her children when the robbers scaled the fence of their building and gained entry into the compound.
The time was about past 12am.
Bola said: “When they came in, none of us knew they were already inside the sitting room.
“They started shouting: ‘Where is the money? Where is the money?’
“When I heard the strange voices, I stood up from the mattress.
“The next person I met on the road was one of the robbers, who marched me to my children’s rooms and ordered everyone to get up.
“The robbers were young boys between ages of 18 and 25.
“They ordered my children and I to lay face-down and further threatened to kill whoever dares to look at them.
“At that point, a lot of things went through my mind.
“But most importantly, I thought of my children.
“I didn’t want anything to happen to them.
“I prayed.
“While all these were going on, three among the robbers went into the rooms and assigned two people to guard us.
“To my shock, the robbers ransacked the whole apartment and brought out every valuable they could find.
“They also collected about 10 phones from my children and carted away N500,000 I use for my PoS transactions.
“The robbers, who were armed with locally made guns, took their time to finish the operation before leaving two hours later.
“They then went to Olajide Close, where they also spent additional two hours and robbed a couple of their money and valuables before leaving.
“As I speak with you now, I have not overcome the trauma of the robbery attack.
“Even my children, who are adults, are also afraid to sleep in their rooms.
“None of us had ever had a gun pointed at him or her, let alone my children.”
Bola’s son, who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained that the robbers came fully prepared for the operations.
According to him, they took their time to ransack apartment and carted whatever tickled their fancies.
He noted that the day after the incident, the matter was reported at Mowe Police Divisional Headquarters for possible arrest of the suspects, but no arrest had been made.
Our correspondent, who went to the community, heard from angry residents that policemen in the axis preferred chasing cyclists and extorting them than embarking on patrol of communities.
Our correspondent further went to Olajide Close, but the victims of the robbers attack were not at home.
On June 20, another set of robbers stormed Mukadmu Street, where a PoS operator was also robbed of N1 million in her home.
The victim, who gave her name simply as Barakat, alias Iya Road Safety, said the day was one she would never forget for as long as she lives.
She recalled: “On that fateful day, I started transaction on a good note, but around 1am, we were sleeping when the strange visitors came and started banging on our gate.
“They ordered us to open the door and further threatened to deal with us if they found their way into our apartment themselves.
“Out of panic, my husband didn’t open the door.
“They finally scaled the fence to gain access into our compound.
“When they got into our sitting room, my husband and I had already said our last prayers.
“Yes, we thought they would do as they had earlier threatened.
“Luckily for us, they didn’t touch us, but they ransacked the rooms for money and valuables.
:They came out with N1 million.
“It was the money I had just collected from the cooperatives society.
“I wanted to use the money to boost my business.
“Immediately I saw the bag containing the money, I urinated on my body.
“I knew there was no way I could return the money to the cooperative.”
Barakat noted that since the incidence, police had not been able to arrest the suspects, while she’s now depending on her children to feed.
“She said the robbery wrecked her business.
A Police source at Mowe Divisional Headquarters told our correspondent that on daily basis, they receive complaints of PoS operators being attacked.
The source promised that the police were already having series of meetings with the operators on precautionary method of doing business in a community like Mowe and its environs.
At House 5, Shotayo Adebayo Street, Abesan, Mosan Okunola Local Council Development Area, Lagos State, a similar attack played out.
One of the victims was Nike Akande.
The woman narrated that the robbers collected money in her apartment, which she had earlier borrowed from cooperative society.
Akande disclosed that the robbery and carting away of the money left her devastated.
Akande, a widow, who lost her husband four years ago, decided to go into PoS business as a result of her ill health.
She revealed that since the death of her husband, things had not been the same for her and her children.
She said: “I was given N1.2 million by my husband family members after the demise of my husband to take care of my children.
“I decided to go into PoS business so as to have a close look on my younger children because my first daughter just got admission into the University of Ibadan to study Medicine and Surgery.
“Thank God when I started business, there was little patronage, but as time progresses, people started coming and the money was yielding profit.
“I used to close business at exactly 7pm.
“I don’t go beyond that hour.
“On that fateful day, I was about to lock the main gate to our compound when three guys hijacked the gate from me and forced their way into my compound.
“Before I realised what was happening, they had brought out guns and ordered me into my sitting room.
“Unfortunately, none of our neighbours knew what was happening.
“When the robbers entered the sitting room, they sat on a couch chair and asked me to entertain them.
“Out of panic, I went into the kitchen and got them soft drinks, after which I begged and told them that I was a widow, that they should have mercy on me.
“I was just shocked speechless when they told me how much they came to rob from me.
“When I pleaded with them, I was told to go and bring N1 million.
“I begged them that the only money I had in the house was N500,000.
“They collected the money and asked me to pray for them, which I did and then they left.
“It was after they had gone that I ran out and started shouting.
“It was my cries that attracted my tenants.
“We checked round the whole community if could get them.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t traced them.
“That was how I lost my money.”
Eagles Online
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