Armed robbers on Friday shot dead a driver to a Chinese and his police orderly in Umuahia, Abia State and also took away money and a rifle.
An eyewitness narrated that at about 9am, a tipper with a full load of sand lost its control and rammed into three other vehicles including a bus and a tricycle at Methodist Theological Institute, along Ossah- Mission Hill axis.
The eyewitness said, “They blocked the lane leading to the metropolis, thus making other vehicles use one lane only. About an hour later, 10.30am to be precise, the victim ran into the accident blockage.
“No one could say whether the man, the driver and his orderly knew that they were being followed by the robbers who alighted from their vehicle and shot the driver and his orderly and drove away.”
The sound of bullets caused fear among motorists, traders and passersby in the area. The scenario also led to traffic gridlock on both sides of the road, while soldiers from the Abia ADP quarters in four trucks intervened. On arrival at the scene, after about an hour and half, police arrived.
Confirming the incident, the state police spokesperson, Geoffrey Ogbonna, said the Chinese was returning from a bank where he went to withdraw money.
Ogbonna said, it is a case of armed robbery,” stating that they were trailed from the bank, shot and killed the driver and the police orderly and “collected the money and the rifle.’’
He added that the Chinese was safe, noting that the command was on top of the situation. At the time of filing this report, the body of the driver was on the road, shops in the area closed and passersby made to raise their hands above their heads while crossing.