Police arrest suspected Uber taxi hijacker

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The operatives of Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command on Sunday said they foiled an attempt by three suspected armed robbers to hijack an Uber taxi, and arrested one suspect in the process.

The police said the incident happened at Oshodi, just after midnight on Friday.

According to the police statement, the suspect, Emmanuel Ugbomah, 37, from Ndokwa, Delta State, was arrested after the botched attempt to steal the taxi, a black Toyota Corolla, 2009 model, belonging to one Adebisi at Oshodi-Oke, Lagos.

“The suspect, in company of two other accomplices had boarded Adebisi’s Uber taxi in Lekki,” the police said in a statement.

“They reportedly told the victim they were going to Oshodi, to which he charged them N4,000. But on getting to Ikoyi, the trio told the driver to head to Dolphin where they said they were going to pick a lady friend.

According to Mr. Adebisi, “Two of them came down from the vehicle and some minutes later they were back saying that the female friend was not going to join them and that he should keep driving to Oshodi – Oke.

“When I was about to climb the Oshodi-Oke Bridge, one of them grabbed me from the back seat, another closed my mouth with his hand.

“A gun-like object was pointed at my head and they were shouting that I should come down and come to the back seat”, he said.

He continued, “Immediately, I unbuckled the seat belt and opened the door, I saw some RRS policemen at the front. I screamed robbers, robbers, and ran towards them.

“They immediately swung to action after I explained to them that my car was about to be stolen. They ran towards the direction of my car. They apprehended one but two escaped.”

The victim claimed his Tecno C8 phone and N80,000 were missing after the incident.

He identified Mr. Ugbomah as one of the suspects.

But the suspect claimed he is an automobile mechanic and was on his way from Lekki to Oshodi after he had gone to fix a broken down vehicle for a customer when he was apprehended by the police a few minutes past midnight.

The police said they recovered charms, a master key, and a pistol-shaped device from Mr. Ugbomah.

They also said that contrary to his statement to the police, the suspect was not at his workshop at Marwa in Lekki and, in fact, had not been to his workshop since mid-March, 2017.

The suspect has been transferred to Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja for further investigations.