RRS arrest Uber taxi hijacker

Operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), at Oshodi-Oke area of Lagos, at the weekend, nabbed a suspected armed robber after an unsuccessful hijack attempt on an Uber taxi.

The arrested suspect, Emmanuel John Ugbomah, 37, alongside two others who escaped, boarded an Uber taxi, a black 2009 Toyota Corolla, belonging to one Adebisi, at Lekki, and told the victim they were going to Oshodi, for which he charged them N4,000.

On getting to Ikoyi, the trio asked the driver to head to Dolphin, where they said they wanted to pick up a lady friend of theirs.

Adebisi said, “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 he 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, and 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 go to the back seat. As I opened the door, I saw some RRS policemen and I called their attention.

ALSO SEE: Uber to launch flying car 2020

“They swung into 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 driver claimed his Tecno C8 phone and N80,000 got missing in the course of being harassed.

Ugbomah, who claimed to be an automobile mechanic, said he was apprehended by the police on his way from Lekki to Oshodi where he had gone to fix a broken vehicle for a customer some minutes after midnight.

The RRS said preliminary investigations revealed that the 37-year-old had not been to his workshop at Marwa in Lekki since mid–March, 2017.

The operatives also said charms, master key and a pistol shaped device were recovered from him during the arrest.

The suspect has been transferred to Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Ikeja for further investigations.