Safety of commercial motorists popularly known as ‘Okada’ is constantly threatened at Reservation view in Allen Town community owing to the deadly actions of armed robbers.
Six motor cycles have been taken away by robbers hacking down riders. Some encounters between the riders and robbers are fatal while most are injurious with the riders as the victims.
The latest violent attack took place three days ago at 7pm in Reservation community where, a task force rider says, the commercial motorist almost lost his life.
The motor cycle now is no more, and the rider is in a critical condition. He is responding to medical treatment in one of the hospitals in the community.
Most riders have been frightened by the scary incidents to venture into a community seen as heartland of robbers.
Owing to their penchant to steal, the robbers’ tactics to snatch bikes are varied and well thought-out. They devise several plans to carry out their illegal trade.
The robbers move from one particular tactic when the old one is detected. Currently, the most popular one is the use of women as baits to trap the riders.
Since ‘okada’ have little confidence to take men to distant places especially at night, robbers now use women as bait.
Yusuf Sesay is a commercial motorist who plies the community. He has been in the ‘okada’ industry for over ten years.
Sesay explains the most popular method embarked upon by robbers to steal bikes.
“Robbers most times use women to take bikes as passengers. On arrival of the destination, the woman alights and the robbers attack,” he said.
The manner in which the robbers strike has made Sesay to suspect connivance between some women pillions and the robbers.
He says robbers use women as bait to catch riders as they know too well that riders do not hesitate to convey women to faraway destinations.
“Many riders have been attacked by this method, and their motor cycles and lives taken away,” he said.
Since riders have discovered the recent plan by robbers, they are now even more susceptible to and jittery of female passengers than male ones.
The persistent brutal attacks have made it extremely difficult for riders to convey passengers to Pipeline, Reservation View and other communities in Allen Town.
Since the decision not to trek on various parts of the community appears unanimous among riders, commuters including women are at the wrong end.
They walk long distances to their destinations at night bringing them close to the Robbers’ mercy.
However, some riders take great risk either for cash or humanitarian concerns to convey passengers to robbery-prone areas.
It follows that where bike targets are missed, the community people become the objects of brutality.
The killings and hijacks of motor cycles continue, but the latest violent incident has prompted authorities to fire back to protect riders.
Chernor Jalloh, a Task Force Officer of the Bike Riders Union mans a checkpoint in the community to regulate movements of riders, but most importantly to look for stolen bikes.
Their security effort, Jalloh says, is backed up by police personnel who currently embark on day- and-night patrols in the community.
He said the checkpoint had been in existence for months for routine checks, but the increased robbery has made them to concentrate on criminality.
“Because of frequent attacks and thefts of motor cycles, we have made sure that no motor cycle plies the community after 7pm,” Jalloh says.
He said the order to halt bikes in the evening came from the BRU Branch Chairman at Calaba Town.
It is an order task officers are determined to enforce at all cost. But, some motorists are less happy with the enforcement.
They see the order as a blow to the money they are supposed to make for the day. Hardly, do the riders know their safety comes first.
When violent crimes occur in any community, the police become the institution the people turn to for help.
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Fatoma is the Officer Commanding Calaba Town Police Station.
He tells this medium that he has received reports of robbery activities carried out in that part of the city.
As usual, he says, police strategies must be employed and implemented to create a turn around so that people take back their safety.
“For now, I have been in constant touch with the Branch Chairman for Bike Riders Union to implement some strategies,” ASP Fatoma told Nightwatch.
The Officer Commanding seems operationally active as a result of his lengthy experience he has gained in the police service.
Information, ASP Fatoma Says, gathered few days back indicate that a bakery where these brutal activities occur remain open late at night.
He says no report or information has come out from the bread manufacturing base after many bike riders have been attacked.
Closing down the bakery owing to the nexus between the bakery and robbers’ criminality has not been ruled out.
“I will close the bakery temporally since in my own has links with the robberies,” he said.
ASP Fatoma’s decision to shut down the bakery is informed by the failure of the residents to report the robberies since they occur close to them.
As community bike riders continue to struggle with robbery, ASP Fatoma says, he is now working in partnership with the relevant security agencies especially the army to stop the menace.
He assures the community of a sustained police patrols so that the community could return to peace and tranquillity.
“The police especially personnel of the Operations Support Division are now patrolling the community to stop crime,” he said.
He assured that the patrols would continue until such a time he deems it necessary to order a stand down.
Robbery is a crime usually carried out by highly organised crime syndicates making it difficult for the police to have an easy ride in nipping it in the bud.
It is most often difficult for the police to have a successful crackdown as a neatly dressed and nice looking gentleman during the day is a robber at night.
The robbers are everywhere, yet nowhere as their modus operandi (method of operation) remains a closely guarded secret.
It is now made more dangerous when evidence reveals that women are now frequently used as traps.
The method on the use of women in quite a dangerous crime is reminiscent of the war period when they were used as reconnaissance by warring factions.
Although commercial motorists are more vulnerable to robberies taking place in the community, other residents are not spared.
Adama Kamara, a resident at Allen Town community says robberies and burglaries are not infrequent.
She narrated an ordeal in which she and her daughters were attacked by robbers and burglars who carted away property.
The robbers’ raid, she said, took place almost a month ago and the property taken away cannot be quantified in monetary terms.
Adama said she was not only the target at that time as other residents also succumbed to the same fate. No one she said was safe.
“The action of the robbers put everyone into panic as they were heavily armed with machetes,” Adama said.
The situation, she went on, was terribly bad for them as none had police line to call for security assistance.
“After they did all what they could, they went away without being arrested,” she said.
Since the incident, she says, the residents always have the fear of robbery attacks.
When asked about the level of police patrols in the community, Adama replies that she hardly sees police officers at Reservation View.
From a security standpoint, the fear of crime is more potent than real crime.
It is now up to ASP Fatoma to prove the relevance of his security strategies in policing his area of responsibility.