Breaking: banks shut down, 6 arrested, as police foil hoodlums attempt to invade radio house, warehouse, supermarket, main market in fct.
TEC NEWS
The police on Tuesday foiled attempts by hoodlums to break into Agricultural Development Project Fadama Warehouse, a nearby main market, radio house and a supermarket in Gwagwalada, Abuja.
It will be recalled that three persons including a pregnant woman were allegedly died while 12 people collapsed as hoodlums invaded a warehouse in the same Gwagwalada on Monday.
Hoodlums destroyed a government warehouse in the city to cart away a lot of palliatives materials under a serious unstoppable violent in spite the efforts of security operatives to restore normalcy.
As residents were still counting losses and yet to come out Monday tragedy, the city was woken with another pandemonium on Tuesday morning as hoodlums gathered in their thousands to unleash mayhem on a warehouse and market.
Some groups of youth had moved to invade an Agricultural Development Project Fadama Warehouse close to the main market of the town.
However, because the place was closed to the divisional police headquarters of the council as they were easily alerted, the police moved into swift action to prevent the attack.
The police quickly took over the streets that link the market and the warehouse to resist access by anyone.
The DPO of the Division, Wilson Dankwabo who personally and practically led the team against the hoodlums confirmed the incident and an explanation was given by one of his men who would not want any public exposure that the intervention of the men and officers of the force prevented another vandalism of properties in the area.
He explained that in order to avoid confrontation, they took time and explained to those boys that the place was not a palliative warehouse but FADAMA house.
He said he had to take some of them inside the building and showed to confirm that there was no food or palliative stored in the location.
One of the senior officers also said that the action led to the withdrawal of some of them, adding that few of them however still proved stubborn and wanted to invade the place.
He said six of them were arrested while others were dispersed.
He explained that the Police swiftly moved into action because of their commitment to safe lives and properties.
However, an officer who craved anonymity also lamented the level of discouragement inflicted on the hearts of the police force.
He said that the morales of some officers were down because of the fact that till this moment, the government had not said anything in regard to police stations attacked and destroyed or even the police personnel that lost their lives all over the country.
“No promise that the perpetrators would be brought to book, nothing is promised to be paid but rather, agitation continued by the people against the Nigerian police with accusation of brutality,” he said.
He said that since the people wanted police to be demoralised which he believed it was a criminals’ plot, he said that the hoodlums and other criminals would have field days on the populace.
The officer said the Nigerian Police was the only security outfit that could handle criminals if supported by the government and the good people of Nigeria.
He said the military are trained to kill and defend the government apparatus and the citizens from external aggression but police are trained to handle the affairs of civilians and protect them alongside their properties.
The moment the interview ended, the police received an alert that the hoodlums in their numbers have invaded the premises of the major supermarket in the city along SDP Road in the same Gwagwalada. The police team moved immediately and began to shoot into the air in other to disperse the hoodlums and on arrival, the hoodlums have taken to their heels. It was gathered that the key to the back door had already been destroyed and about to access the building before the police arrived.
The attack was repelled and no casualty recorded as at the time this report is been put together. Gwagwalada is tensed with businesses closed including all banks in the city.
A staff of one of the banks who pleaded anonymous confirmed that they were ordered to shut down when the sound of gun shots filled the air and people running helter skelter. The ‘city mart’ has banks such as Uba, Fidelity, fcmb around it. He further said to resume normal activities, security improvement would necessitate it.
The police confirmed that hoodlums have really been on rampage in the area this week and the police is equal to the task. The hoodlums went to attack Radio Nigeria where the police repelled them and one arrested with power cable.
The hoodlums were also stopped by the police when they began to attempt attack on an area along the army barrack road.
“It was however glaring that civilians are already getting to know that the development is far beyond #EndSars protest but criminality setting in. This is evident in the numbers of civilians that have join the security team to protect the city mart”. Said one of the officers.
He advised that parents etc talk to their ward never to be a part of this criminal act as he is for seeing that the objective of ‘endsars protest’ might be eroded if things continue this way.
