Driver Arrested for Arranged Armed Robbery
Prince Woke and Katherine Abayomi
A Minibus Driver, Kelechi, has been apprehended by a mob at Artillery Junction in Aba Road, Port Harcourt. The driver of the minibus, also known as Keke Bus without plate number, allegedly planned with armed men to rob his passengers. The mob apprehended him in Rivers State at about 11 p.m. on Sunday, January 26th, 2025.
It was gathered that the suspect was apprehended after two ladies he and his gang had earlier robbed identified him when he (the suspect) was about to buy petrol in a filling station along Aba road.
One of the female victims of Kelechi and his gang, Gloria Ephraim, in an interview with our reporter, said
“What happened is that we entered the motor (minibus) at Oyigbo Express. We were going to our friend’s place, who was celebrating her birthday.
“The driver asked us where we were going. We said we were going to the market junction. He said it was 700 naira. We said we were with 500 naira, and he said we should enter.
“When we entered, he drove us, stopped where there was no vehicle, and put fuel. Then we were like, the place you stopped us and put fuel is not good. There was one lady at the front with a guy; she was going along. She stopped before the driver drove us forward.
“This thing happened at oil mill flyover. The driver now stopped, and four guys came out with knives; they put knives under their nickels. When the four guys attacked us and asked for our phones, one of the passengers sitting at the window side jumped out, ran, and crossed to another lane of the road. They failed in robbing him.
“They flogged my girlfriend with a knife because she was close to the door, and I was in the middle side of the bus. Although the knife touched me, it was not the way it did to my girlfriend.
“During the incident, one of the guys said I should give him my phone, or he is going to kill us, and nothing will happen. I threw my phone through the window; they were beating my girlfriend with me. So my girlfriend had to give them her phone. I did not know that one of the guys had seen it when I threw my phone. The guy now collected it.
“The backside of the minibus has no glass; it is water-proof, which they used to cover it. After they collected our phones, as we were running,we heard the driver calling one of the guys’ names and telling him he should keep his own share.That was when I told my girlfriend that the driver carried us and gave the people who robbed us. We were helped by a man driving a motorcycle who helped us and dropped us at Artillery.”
Kelvin Nwachukwu, a Youth Activist who assisted in apprehending the driver of the ‘One Chance’ vehicle, said
“I was at the Artillery junction, and some girls complained that they had been robbed by ‘One Chance’ robbers. Unfortunately for the driver of the ‘One Chance” syndicate, he was turning at Artillery to buy fuel at a filling station when the girls were complaining to people.
” The girls quickly identified the driver, so I mobilized the people they were complaining to to apprehend him. We went to the filling station and saw some girls’ property inside the bus. We carried the driver with the girls to the Mini-Okoro Police Station. His minibus is there. His name is Kelechi, and he is from Anambra state.
” We made an entry at Mini-Okoro Police station. For now, he is still there.”The Rivers State Police Command has yet to make an official statement on the incident.
