Barely one week after the police bursted six serial killers in Ushongo community in Benue state, members of same community on Sunday handed down jungle justice on three suspected armed robbers after they staged a robbery operation in the area.
The suspects identified as Terkaa Jabi, Terkimbir Ahungwaor and Paul Damsa incurred the wrath of the community when they trailed a vehicle coming from Cross River and attacked the passengers early Sunday morning close to the house of the District Head of Mbayegh, Nathaniel Hoyo.
Eyewitnesses stated that Mr. Hoyo called the police on phone and also mobilized youths to chase the attackers who ran into the hills in the surrounding area and hid in one of the caves.
They said a mobile police team and later operatives of Operation Zenda joined the youths to comb the hills and cave where they arrested the suspects.
This led to a spontaneous outrage from the community against the suspects as their attack came few days after the horrible incident of 11 exhumed bodies of kidnap and robbery victims from the area.
The angry mob stoned the suspects and dragged them along the road before the police took their bodies and displayed to the large crowd gathered at the Ushongo police station.
Ushongo Caretaker chairman, Bemsen Agugu, who also visited the police station commended the youths and community leaders from the area for rising up to the security challenge.
He assured of his council’s readiness to partner with communities to rid his local government of crime.
Mbayegh District Head, Mr. Hoyo, appealed to youths in the area to desist from crime and engage in productive activities which he said God would bless and prosper rather than taking to crime which would lead them to untimely death similar to that of the suspects.
When contacted, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Catherine Anene said what happened in Ushongo was not a lynch but a continuation of the operation to rid the area of criminal elements.
She said journalists will be briefed when the operation was completed.
