From Ogbonnaya Ndukwe, Aba
Armed bandits on Monday went on rampage again in the Ogbor Hill area of Aba, Abia state, killing four more transaction point of sale (POS) outlet cashiers and carting away money stolen from them.
This is coming barely three days after four armed robbers struck at a POS outlet along the Ukaegbu/Ikot Ekpene Road junction in the same area, killing a female cashier and making away with the money given to her to dispense to customers.
The action, which had caused a great stir around the commercial city has led to mass resignations from their jobs by many female POS cashiers for fear of being killed. Those who are still operating have started removing sign posts indicating locations of the business while many have closed down their shops.
According to witnesses, the most affected parts of the town where incidents of POS robberies are rampart include the busy central business districts of Azikiwe Road, Jubilee, Market road, Tenant road, St Michael’s road as well as Ukaegbu, Umuola, Ehere roads and Obikabia junction in Ogbor Hill suburban area.
Security agents, especially the Aba area command of the Nigeria Police said they have intensified efforts to stop the menace, as men of the command and the Military Task force have made several arrests of suspected criminals who were being interrogated .
Though the police area commander, Mr Kabiru Ibrahim, was not available to speak on the heightened security lapses in the area, senior police sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity told Daily Sun, that efforts were on to contain the situation.
Abia State Governor, Mr Okezie Ikpeazu, had in a statement after last Friday’s incident, accused hoodlums operating in Aba town of using commercial tricycles otherwise known as ‘keke’ to rob unsuspecting citizens and issued a stern warning to the leaders of keke unions operating in the area to fish out the bandits and hand them over to law enforcement agencies as well as ensure proper registration and identification of their menbers to avoid being outlawed.