By JUDEX OKORO, CALABAR

Luck ran out on a suspected kidnap gang as three of them were lynched yesterday by an angry mob along Ette Agbor road in Calabar municipality of Cross River State for allegedly kidnapping three women.

The gang, which was said to have been operating in Calabar south for quite a while now, had allegedly abducted three women along Uwnase Street about 5:pm yesterday at gun point.

An eye witness told Sunday Sun that the incident happened about 4:00 pm when a white Audi 80 saloon car pulled up in front  of the women and two hefty men came out and accosted them with a gun, ordering them to enter the car or be shot immediately.

Without wasting time, the women hurriedly entered the car and the gang drove off. But luck was said to have ran out on the gang along Ette Agbor by Mary Slessor roundabout at 4:20pm when the kidnappers were trapped in a traffic gridlock and a lady was sighted shouting “please help me kidnappers! kidnappers!”

At that point, the security men at the University of Calabar gate with some students quickly sighted the women shouting and moved towards the car believing that they were students. On getting there, the kidnappers jumped out of the car and ran into the campus for safety. But the students and the security men went after them and caught the three of them and subsequently beat them to a pulp after realising that they actually kidnapped the women.

A security operative at UNICAL gate, who did not want his name in print, told Sunday Sun that the incident took place at 4:20 pm along Etta Agbor round­about when the women alleged to have been kidnapped began screaming and shouting which later attracted other motorists and passersby plying the road to intervene.

According to the witness, “I was at my duty post at the main gate of the University of Calabar. Suddenly, I saw a gridlock at the roundabout. I thought it was the usual traffic we normally witness when work closes because everybody would be in a hurry to get home. But suddenly, we heard people shouting kidnappers! kidnappers!! We at the security unit had to move closer to the scene to see how we could forestall further gridlock which also caused serious traffic inside the school premises.” Narrating the story further he said: “The mob increased in number, as students joined and started beating the kidnapper. Female students, who were not aware of the whole incident, started running helter-skelter thinking it was a cult clash.

The security man said in spite of moves to save the men; the male students used heavy sticks to hit them consistently. Without wasting time, we had to call men of the Quick Intervention Squad of the Nigerian Army who came and salvaged the situation; else they would have been killed. As they arrived, the whole mob dispersed and the suspected kidnappers were taken to the police station for further interrogation,” he said.

“Immediately we got there, we saw three huge men in the car who were suspected to be kidnappers. They took to their heels but they were caught by the mob. The mob after interrogating the alleged kidnapped women discovered that they were actually kidnapped.”


Source: Sun