The operatives of the Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command posted to Oshodi Oke early Friday morning foiled an Uber taxi hijack by three armed robbers with the arrest of one suspect.
The suspect, Emmanuel John Ugbomah, 37, from Ndokwa, Delta State, was arrested at Oshodi Oke at 12:30am while trying to escape after a botched attempt to hijack an Uber taxi, a black Toyota Corolla 2009 model belonging to one Adebisi.
The suspect, in company with two other accomplices had boarded Adebisi’s Uber taxi in Lekki.
They reportedly told the victim they were going to Oshodi, to which he charged them N4,000.
But on getting to Ikoyi, the trio told the driver to head to Dolphin where they said they were going to pick a lady friend.
According to Adebisi: “Two of them came down from the vehicle and some minutes later they were back saying that the female friend was not going to join them and that I should keep driving to Oshodi-Oke.
“When I was about to climb the Oshodi-Oke Bridge, one of them grabbed me from the back seat, another closed my mouth with his hand.
“A gun-like object was pointed at my head and they were shouting that I should come down and come to the back seat.
“Immediately I unbuckled the seat belt and opened the door, I saw some RRS policemen at the front.
“I screamed robbers! robbers! and ran towards them.
“They immediately swung to action after I explained to them that my car was about to be stolen.
“They ran towards the direction of my car.
“They apprehended one but two escaped.”
The victim claimed his Tecno C8 phone and a sum of N80,000 were missing by the time he was composed.
He identified Ugbomah as one of the suspects.
The suspect claimed he was an automobile mechanic and was on his way from Lekki to Oshodi after he had gone to fix a broken down vehicle for a customer when he was apprehended by the police at some minutes past midnight.
Recovered from him at the point of arrest were charms, master key and a pistol shaped device.
Sources disclosed that preliminary investigations revealed that Ugbomah was not at his workshop at Marwa in Lekki as he told police in his statement.
The source added that further investigations indicated that he has not been to his workshop since mid-March, 2017.
The suspect has been transferred to the Special Anti Robbery Squad, Ikeja for further investigations.
