Commercial transport owners in Edo State were recently thrown into shock after an 18 seater Hiace Bus belonging to Agbonifo Line Nigeria Limited was snatched by suspected robbery syndicate led by a woman.
The driver of the vehicle, Nwaosa Tony, was said to have been brutalized by the gang before they eventually snatched the vehicle.
The vehicle with registration No: DGE 317XB and chassis No: JTFRX12PV08042624 was reportedly snatched at gun point along the Ekpoma-Agbor road.
According to reports, the suspected robbers had chartered the vehicle from a motor park at Ekpoma in Esan West local government area of Edo state.
The driver who reports say was lucky to be alive after he was brutalized, spoke from his hospital and narrated his ordeal when contacted on Thursday.
Speaking with The Nation, he said, “I was in Ekpoma at our park between the hours of 10 to 11am last week Thursday when a lady approached me that she wants to charter my bus to a village near Agbor.
“We agreed for a fee of N40, 000. I met my manager at Ekpoma to confirmed from my MD if I should embark on the trip or not and he agreed.
“So, the following morning (Friday) a bus was sent from Auchi which we used. Shortly after we departed from the park it occurred to me that I didn’t carry the vehicle’s manifest papers so I asked her to permit me to return to the part to pick it which she obliged.
“In the course of the journey, the girl was receiving several phone calls and I specifically asked her what exactly are we going to carry and she said computers which her husband that lives abroad imported.
“I became suspicious of her because of her conversation on the phone as if the person was nearby. She later asked me to stop to pick somebody along the road and immediately the caller called her again that we have passed him, she then asked me to park. Only for me to sight about 7 armed men from a nearby bush and they demanded the key of the bus.
“They started beating me with the butt of their guns and blocks from an uncompleted building while the girl watched until I couldn’t remember anything that happened again.
“I only woke up at the hospital. That is all I can remember,” Tony narrated.
The Managing Director, MD of the transport Company, Festus Okhuomose Agbonifo, said the matter had been reported at Igbanke and Abudu Divisional of the Police Station.
Reacting to his driver’s recount, he called on security agencies to help in apprehending the robbers.
Agbonifo wondered why no receipt indicating the identity of the girl was issued by his manager before allowing the chartered bus to embark on such journey.
The MD, however, said he suspected foul play between his manager at Ekpoma and the girl.
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