On February 24, Gombe-based fashion designer, Muhammed Ibrahim, was robbed of his phone by thugs believed to be members of Kalare boys, a machete-wielding group terrorising Gombe State.
Ibrahim told WikkiTimes he had to part with N400 before the thugs released his Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards to him. The victim said he was waylaid when he visited his girlfriend at Bamusa, Yelengurza area of Gombe metropolis.
Narrating his ordeal to WikkiTimes earlier this week, the victim who is also a student said the incident happened around 10 pm when four machete-wielding men waylaid him and demanded he handed over his phone to them.
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“They first raised the machete above my head, threatening to strike, but I quickly assured them that they could have my phone without putting up a fight. I then begged them to let me have my sim cards,” Ibrahim told WikkiTimes, adding he paid N400 to get his sim cards from them.
“I immediately left the place but never reported it to the police because the insecurities in the area were growing and nothing was done about it.”
Weeks later, Ibrahim also encountered a similar experience in the same area while he was visiting his girlfriend.
“I was lucky to have escaped the second time because immediately I saw about nine of them heading my way, I zoomed off with my bike,” he narrated.
TRICYLIST ROBBED BY HIS PASSENGERS
Babangida Abdulmumini, a tricyclist, was also a victim of the phone-snatching syndicate in March.
The 34-year-old man narrated that he picked up two male passengers from Gombe General Hospital around 6 am to Jeka da Fari.
“I didn’t realise they were thugs until I dropped them. The place was quiet because it was early. One of them threatened me with a knife and the other asked for my phone and I gave it to him,” he said.
When asked, he said that he didn’t report the incident to the police because he felt nothing could be done to even track the culprits.
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“There are several incidents like this happening to people in Gombe but nothing has been done to correct it despite involving the securities,” he explained.
Many others have reportedly fallen victim to the menace in Gombe, with people getting more cautious daily.
The incident had made Babangida paranoid, as he became cautious of his passengers and where he transported them to.
“Just last week, I rode two suspicious-looking guys from Tumfure to Tabra but when I realised that they were directing me to a very remote and unfamiliar place, I had to stop and asked them to drop and because of that they refused to pay me,” Babangida told our reporter.
POLICE CLAIM THEY ARE CURBING THE TREND
Spokesman for the Gombe Police Command, Maheed Mu’az, who granted a quick phone audience to WikkiTimes, countered the claims, saying the situation is presently under control and many phone snatchers are in police custody.
“Even though I am currently in China, I can assure you that phone snatching in Gombe has subsided because we have been working tirelessly to put an end to it,” he claimed.
According to him, the police had acted on many distress calls which had led to the arrest of the suspects.
He added that the battle to end it has been prioritised by the authorities and they are making progress.
