From Ogbonnaya Ndukwe, Aba
Residents of Umunkama community, a suburb of Ohanku/Ngwa Road area of Aba town, in Abia State, were overjoyed as a woman braved the odds to grip and hold a suspected armed robber that had accosted and held her at gunpoint in a bid to steal her belongings.
She was later to raise an alarm that attracted her neighbours including members of a local vigilante group that came to rescue her from the gun-wielding bandit, and got him handed over to the police.
Saturday Sun gathered that the suspect in the incident, which happened within the week was identified as a welder in the daytime with a workshop in the area. He was alleged to have had access into the woman’s apartment at night, pointed the fully loaded pistol on her forehead and demanded her Android phone, alongside available cash and some other valuables in the house.
However, according to eyewitnesses, the young woman of about 30 years, summoned courage and grabbed the intruder with his pointed gun and began shouting to attract neighbours who promptly came to the scene and assisted in overpowering him.
On interrogation, the bandit asked for the removal of a charm and ring he wore on one of his fingers, and soon after began confessing his exploits as a senior member of a notorious gang that had been terrorizing the people of the area and neighbouring communities in Aba South and Ugwunagbo Council Areas.
The criminal, whose name was not immediately known, also told men of the local vigilante that he had another loaded pistol with live ammunition in his house, and led them to the spot to recover it before he was beaten and handed over to the Ndiegoro Divisional Police station for further questioning and possible prosecution.