Christopher Oji 

The Rapid Response Squad (RRS)  of the Lagos State Police Command has arrested three suspected robbers who allegedly lured an Uberdriver into the bush and  strangled him.

The robbers, after strangulating the driver,  made away with his Toyota Camry 2006 model. The suspected Uber carjackers were arrested  early Thursday morning in Lekki, Lagos, on their way to hand over the snatched car to a buyer.

A police source said the suspected Uber robbers, Alagor, 28, Effiong, 25, and three others still at large, had on Wednesday night requested for Uber through Alagor’s phone number.

“Supported by another member, Blessing, still at large, Alagor told the Uber driver, Ekwomi Charles, to take them to Abijo, GRA, from Jakande Estate, Lekki, at around 11p.m.

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“Midway into the trip, Blessing, according to Alagor, the mastermind of the car-snatching plan, told the driver that they were going to a birthday party in Shoprite, Sangotedo, and that they were going to pick two other colleagues  in Abijo, GRA, Ajah.

However, the  lucky Uber driver who survived the strangulation, in his statement to the police, said: “I agreed to pick their friends and drop them at the venue of the party as we were already in Abijo GRA. I noticed that their friends were not at the bus stop. I then became worried, but  they called their friends and we agreed that I should  drive  into the estate to meet them on their way. I drove about 100 metres but I still did not  see them. I insisted that  I was going no further.

“ As I insisted that I was going no further, the guys we were expecting actually came and that whittled down my suspicion. Immediately the men entered the car, they tied  a rope round my neck, as I was struggling with the rope, they  started punching me till I passed out. Thinking that I was dead, they took me into the bush and dumped me near an uncompleted building. I thank God that I  later woke up. I was too tired but I  managed  to crawl out of the bush till I saw RRS patrol vehicle and I reported  the mater. I learnt RRS men have arrested the suspects.”

Another senior police officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the suspects, after presumably killing the Uber driver left one of them in Abijo GRA while three of them, Alagor, Blessing and another suspect, whose identity police are working on, drove the car to Shoprite, Ijeshatedo, to pick Samuel Effiong, who had already negotiated with a buyer in Fashola Estate, Lekki.

Effiong, in his confessional statement, said: “Blessing, some time ago, told me that he wanted to sell a car. He called me on phone around midnight of Wednesday to take him to the person that wanted to buy the car. They picked me up in Shoprite, but I did not follow them to where they stole the vehicle.”