Two suspected robbers were on Friday morning burnt alive in Aba, the Commercial nerve centre of Abia State by residents over alleged generator theft.
This newspaper reports that the suspects were caught in the early hours of Friday while they were conveying power-generating sets they allegedly stole from a popular fashion designing plaza situated in Hospital Road, Aba.
Most residents said they were shocked that the incident which took place just five poles away from the Aba Area Command Headquarters did not attract any attention of the police until the suspects were lynched.
Sources told our correspondent that within a space of three months almost all the fashion designers at the plaza have lost three power-generating sets each with no trace.
According to one of the sources, the situation led to the employment of some security guards who could not solve the problem as the stealing continued on monthly basis leading to the designers falling out with the security guards who left after non-payment.
An eyewitness who spoke anonymously said, “For complete three months, we’ve been buying generators. Do you know that 2.5kva is sold for N189,000 and some of us have bought such three times within a space of three months?
“The truth is that before those two criminals were killed, both confessed that their informant is one junkie. That junkie is known by everyone here. He has been the one telling them when the coast is clear to steal.
“We caught them and they demonstrated how they normally use our water reservoir drums to climb into the first storey before combing the rest of the upstairs to steal, drop on the ground and go to sell.
“This morning before they were caught, they’ve already stolen two 2.5kva-SPG-300 and were on a mission to steal the last one when they were caught through an alarm raised by one of the tailors who didn’t go home but worked overnight in his shop.”
Some other sources revealed to our correspondent that among the two burnt suspects, one was identified as ad-hoc staff of the Abia State Environmental Sanitation Agency (ASEPA) who worked at the receptacle located at Jubilee Road by Asa Road where they usually hide stolen generator sets.
“They’ll steal our generators they’ll keep it inside the refuse receptacle at Jubilee Road and will later sell it to some of them there.
“These boys work as refuse evacuation agents during the day, but at the night they’ll become thieves. They’ve been doing this until this morning when God decided to expose them.
“I’m not even happy that they were killed without police presence because if police had appeared, they would have taken note of the names of their partners.
“However, they’re gone and this will serve as a lesson to their likes,” another eyewitness said.
