Two robbery suspects set ablaze in Calabar

Two unidentified young middle-aged men were in the early hours of Monday set ablaze by an angry mob along Akai Effa road opposite Orange Resorts in Calabar Municipality LGA.

It was gathered that the two victims were caught at about 4:00 am while robbing a barber’s shop very close to the popular resort.

It was further gathered that the victims were forced to call their family members on telephone and tell them that they were about to be burnt to death for attempted armed robbery before the mob lynched them.

Residents were said to have resorted to lynching the victims because of the brazen manner robbers were operating in the area in recent times.

An eyewitness, Miss Linda Akpan told newsmen that the two men have been terrorising the area for months now but met their waterloo.

She said: “They have been terrorising the neighbourhood for months. Just a few days ago, they robbed a phone shop, carting away all the phones in the shop including accessories.

“Boys in the neighbourhood decided to increase surveillance in the area and the vigilante caught them right in the act while they were trying to cart away the plasma television, generator amongst other things before they pounced on them.

“They made them call their people before setting them ablaze this morning to serve as a warning to others with the intention to do the same,” she said.

On Christmas Day, a suspected robber who also raped his victim was lynched at Okoro Agbor area of Calabar Municipality.

The police had tried to rescue the victim who was beaten to a pulp but he died before they got him to the hospital.

Similarly, the two robbery suspects were burnt to death before the police arrived the scene of Monday’s mob action.

When contacted over the incident, the State Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Irene Ugbo, confirmed it and simply said “it is true. It happened,” and declined to speak further