Lagos residents are worried over the increasing use of minibusses, locally known as Korope, for kidn@pping and armed robbery in the state.
According to residents, the vice increased after the ban of Okada in parts of the state, where motorcycles were often used to rob citizens.
A resident told The Guardian that suspected kidnappers disguising as commercial bus operators, recently brutalized his wife, in what could be described as a failed kidnap attempt.
According to him, the incident occurred on Tuesday, June 28 around Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, after she boarded the minibus at Sandfill Bus Stop in the Lekki axis.
Also, on June 7, a journalist escaped by the whiskers when men in a minibus attempted to kidnap him.
The kidnappers usually operate in a group of three, made up of two passengers and a driver.
Similarly, in June, a 16-year-old secondary school leaver and two young girls boarded a mini-bus with another passenger going from Jakande Estate to Cele Bus Stop. After the bus took off, two other passengers entered, disguising to be going in the same direction.
When the bus got to the Okota area, one of the girls told the driver that she wanted to alight. At that point, the men brought out guns and ordered the passengers to face the floor or get killed. They were blindfolded and taken to an uncompleted building around Mile 2, where they also saw two other victims tied.
One of the girls was ordered to transfer the sum of ?200,000 in her account to the abductors before she was released, while another girl was asked to call her family who sent ?150,000 before she was released. The other boy called his family who transferred ?250,000 to a UBA account 2133093412 with the name ABEL MICHAEL ODIETE before he was released at about 1:00 a.m. and taken to Cele Bus Stop.
A family friend who narrated the incident said the case was reported to the Lagos Police Command.
Click the link in our bio for the rest of this story and follow us for breaking news, videos, photos, and much more.??
Photo: Pius Utomi Ekpei / AFP
Source: Guardian Nigeria