END OF THE ROAD: Notorious Armed robbery suspect, Jim Afam, Killed

The Police in Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area have killed a notorious armed robber in the area who was known for terrorizing innocent citizens, breaking into traders? shops, waylaying and robbing travelers on the highway and dispossessing them of their valuable luggages. The shooting which took place in the early hours of Thursday, July 30, 2009 was carried out barely two weeks after another robbery incident in which an armed robber was caught and later shot to death by the police, through the assistance of some vigilante groups.

Sources close to Ika Weekly said that the middle aged man whose name was given as Mr. Jim Efam, had been on the run for quite some time, after he was involved in a robbery incident with other persons at large along the Benin-Asaba expressway, by the railway line, very close to Emuhu in Ika South Local Government Area. In that operation which took place about 3 mouths earlier, it was alleged that some passengers who were traveling from Lagos to Onitsha in a white Toyota Tlilux van, on getting to a point, about 300 hundred metres away from the railway line, met a group of persons who looked like policemen on duty. Surprisingly, the men turned out to be armed robbers and that night, the passengers were taken to a nearby bush where they were robbed at gun point. However nemesis caught up with one of them; when, after they had finished sharing their loot that night, and had kept them away in the bushes; as they were walking out leisurely into the expressway, they did not know there was an ambush for them by the police who were alerted of the armed robbery. During the encounter, one of the robbers was gunned down, while the rest of them escaped through the bush. Since then, the police had been on the lookout for the robbers.

That was about three months ago. But just on Tuesday, July 30, it was gathered that the anti-crime patrol team received a distress call from a section of the Agbor community informing them of the presence of a gang of robbers operating in the area the previous night. That made the team to be on the lookout for the robbers. As early as 4:30 am, the patrol team, working on a tip-off, consequently traced Mr. Jim Efam to a place where he was already moving on a bike with some luggages including one electric generator, about to leave the town. As soon as he noticed that the police was after him, he quickly jumped out of the motorcycle and fled into the bush, leaving the luggages behind. Mr. Jim, as he was popularly called, was felled by a bullet from the crime control officers; when he was trying to escape into the bush. He was immediately taken to the Agbor police station with the luggages he was carrying; where he was further interrogated before giving up the ghost.

Speaking on the incident, the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Agbor police station CSP (Barr.) Emmanuel Aina said that several reports have been given about the armed robber; and that at last nemesis has caught up with him. He commended the efforts of the anti-crime patrol team in the area for a job well done; and promised to rid the area of criminals, many of whom he said, are still at large.

CSP Aina used the opportunity to warn the people of the area, to always obey the 7:00pm deadline given by the Delta State Government for all motorcycle riders, private or houses; as it has been discovered that most of the crimes perpetrated by hoodlums were carried out with motorcycles; which may not even belong to them. He explained that the order has been given that whoever is caught moving on a bike after 7:00pm should be arrested and prosecuted in a law court. He also warned the public, especially okada users, to be very careful not to move in the early hours of the morning; as robbers have also adopted ways of unleashing terror to innocent citizens in the early hours of the day. He called on the member of public to inform the police of any criminal activities that may be going on in their area; and assist the police in getting ride of undesirable elements in their communities.

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