FCTA Staff Loses Car, N100,000 And Other Valuables to Robbers at Garki

A female staff in the Monitoring and Inspection department of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Amaka Onyeaku, last Monday lost her car to armed robbers at Ankpa Close, off Ogun Street, Area 2 Section 2, Garki, Abuja

The victim said the incident happened around 8pm, when she drove the car, a green colour CRV jeep, with registration number FK 886 ABC, engine number B20B420A4625 and chassis number 1856VC802871, to a friend’s house at the area.
She said when she came out of the friend’s house, she could not find the car where it was parked, adding that her handbag had earlier been stolen from the same car, opposite Regina Pacis College at the same Garki few weeks ago.
She added that she lost N100,000 and many other things inside the bag, adding that she reported the incident to the police at Garki but nothing has been done and now the car itself has been stolen.
According to her, the stolen car’s steering was locked and wondered how the robbers were able to steal the car.
“I ran to Garki police division again to report that my car has been stolen and they instantly told me that there was no patrol vehicle on ground that could be used to trace the jeep because they were all broken down. They then took me to a place where I wrote my statement and I have been calling the division to find out if anything has been done but they kept telling me that nothing yet has been done,” she said.
She alleged that some policemen at the station hinted her that the area where the car was stolen is a haven for armed robbers and that nobody goes there with a car and returns with it.
Meanwhile, some residents of the Close have narrated how they have been constantly harassed by robbers in the area.
A senior civil servant with the Federal Ministry of Works, who craved anonymity for fear of being attacked, narrated how he was attacked on Thursday in his house.
“As I was coming back from work, I horned for the security guard to open the gate, but instead of the guard, I saw someone else opening the gate, before I knew what was happening, the person told me not to make a move, otherwise I would be shot. He pointed a gun to my head and led me to the rooms, where my son was already tied and every room ransacked,” he narrated.
He said he lost money and items worth N2.8million to the robbers, numbering about six and armed with sophisticated weapons.
Another resident, Hajia Salamatu Mohammed, said recently, some armed robbers came to her room and robbed her and other occupants of the flats in the compound for about an hour.
“We are calling on the FCT commissioner of police to come to our rescue before the robbers start killing us in the area,” she pleaded.
Another resident, Ugochi Anumodu, said she was attacked by some hoodlums at the same area last Sunday on her way to church, disclosing that she was dispossesed of N15,000, ATM cards, a blackberry, an LG phone and jewelries and that she had reported the incident at the Garki police station.
When contacted, the Garki divisional police officer, Chief Superintendent Femi Abaniwonder, confirmed that a jeep was stolen on Monday at Ankpa Close off Ogun Street, Area 2 Section 2 and that the police had raided the area.
He said, “The area was crime prone but in the last four days, my men have been on 24 hours surveillance and some people have been arrested. We are still raiding the place. It will be a continuous exercise because we are determined to reduce crimes of any form to the barest minimum in the area.”
He said the police in the area swung into action immediately the owner of the stolen jeep reported the incident, assuring that everything will be done to recover the stolen vehicle.
“We have a laid down procedure. When a car is stolen, once the owner reports to the police, we instantly announce it on our radio to keep surveillance on it and we have recovered so many stolen cars in the past and handed over to the owners,” he informed.
He said those who claimed to have been robbed for hours in the area should have looked for ways of contacting the police for immediate response.
“We respond instantly to distress calls and to make it easier, the commissioner of police has given out his personal numbers for such purpose,” he said.-Dailytrust