A five-man gang that laid siege on the bank of River Niger Bridge on Sunday had a tough time robbing unsuspecting travellers.
The gang had laid ambush between the bridge and the motor park of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, waiting to unleash terror before men of the State Anti-Robbery Squad from Onitsha, Anambra State swooped on them.
The suspects, The Eagle Online gathered, lay in wait there to waylay Christmas travellers from the South South and South West zones of the country to dispossess them of their belongings.
The sporadic shooting that ensued thereafter between the gang and the SARS caused commotion that forced the popular Toll Gate motor park on the bank of the river to be at a standstill for almost 30 minutes.
Commuters were compelled to lie down flat on the ever busy Benin-Asaba-Onistha Expressway and its adjoining layouts until the robbers bowed to the overwhelming strength of the police squad.
Although the hoodlums escaped into thin air, one of the gang members, The Eagle Online later gathered, “was however unlucky”.
An eyewitness said: “He (the suspect) was caught while trying to flee the scene with bullet wounds and was taken to the ‘C’ Divisional Police Headquarters.
“One of the tyres of the fully-loaded 18 seater bus, which the gang was using to protect themselves from stray bullets, was punctured even as one of the passengers (a woman) was hit by a gunshot from the robbers.”
According to the source, the body of the victim has since been deposited by men of the Federal Road Safety Corps at the morgue.
Efforts to reach the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Celestina Kalu, proved abortive.