Wahala! Police shatter man’s hand, as residents scramble for money falling from robbers

A Police officer in Akwa Ibom State has shot a resident of Uyo who was picking up money left by fleeing robbers along Wellington Bassey Way, Uyo.

The man, whose hand was shattered by the Police’s bullets, according to an eyewitness, is said to be working in an office near the a bank building.

He was said to have rushed to the scene alongside others, despite cross fire between the robbers and the policemen, while the robbers were transferring money from their operational vehicle into another they snatched from a woman.

The incident was said to have occurred about 11:06a.m., yesterday.

Eyewitnesses told our correspondent that at Paul Bassey Street by Brooks Street, some residents in the area were also seen picking some of the money that had fallen from the robbers’ vehicle during escape.

One of them said the robbers were making frantic efforts to move the money into another vehicle as the tyres of their own vehicle had been shot by the Police.

He said one of the robbers was said to have wielded two AK-47 rifles, shooting sporadically to scare road users

Eyewitness account

One of the eyewitnesses, Mr. Joe Inyang, told journalists that occupants of a Toyota Camry—a government vehicle with registration number AK705 C01— were coming from one of the new generation banks, where they withdrew huge amount of cash.

He said: “As the driver was going through Paul Bassey Street, he noticed that some people were trailing him with a Toyota Corolla. As he tried to link Brooks Street, the vehicle crashed into a Toyota Camry that was going along the street. That was when the robbers blocked them.

“It was at this time that the robbers seized the vehicle, opened fire from all directions and shattered the boot and doors of the vehicle. They picked the money that was loaded in Ghana-Must-Go bags.

“In the process of moving the money into another vehicle, some residents defied the exchange of gunfire and scrambled over falling cash.

“The man Police shot at Barracks Road for also picking the money, rushed out of his office to pick the falling cash.”

The state’s Commissioner of Police, Mr. Zubairu Muazu, did not respond to calls to his phone.

Contacted, the state’s Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Chukwu Ikechukwu, said he was out of town.” Vanguard