Armed robbers attacking motorists on the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos have devised a new technique to attract their victims. The new system involves the feigning of an accident to attract other motorists' sympathy. Usually, the robbers will park a rickety car in the middle of the road. Such cars normally have their windshields deliberately broken.

This is done to create a false scene of an auto crash, and about 10 metres away from the vehicle, one or two persons will be seen pretending to have been seriously injured in the accident.

Investigation showed that there could be more persons around the feigned accident scene, but all of them would not appear in order not to arouse suspicion. Any motorist who stops to render assistance automatically becomes a victim. If his car is not snatched, every valuable item on the occupants of the vehicle will be taken at gunpoint.

On Friday 01/02/08, at about 9.30pm, one such incident occurred on the bridge. This involved four suspects. The robbers drove a car to a point on the bridge and made it look as if it was involved in a lone accident. Two of the robbers were said to be moving to and fro with great anxiety to suggest that they needed help.

Unfortunately, all the vehicles that passed them did not stop. This suggested that the motorists suspected the men. The robbers however ran out of luck when a police patrol team drove to the scene. The policemen reportedly stopped to inquire what was wrong with the men. It was learnt that immediately the Robbers discovered that the vehicle that stopped belonged to the police, two of them fled.

The other two were not so lucky. They were arrested. During a search on them, two locally-made guns were recovered from them. One of the suspects gave his name as Sheriff Ibrahim of 25, Jamiu Street, Bariga, Lagos, while the other identified himself as Azeez Jogunomi. Besides, it was gathered that one of the suspects had a big wound on his leg and during interrogation, it was discovered that it was a bullet wound. Spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, Mr. Frank Mba, confirmed that it was the latest technique employed by bandits.

Before, the robbers' main method of robbing on the bridge was to exploit traffic bottlenecks to attack their victims who could not easily speed away.

No room for good Samaritans in Lagos.  Every man for himself, and remember the Golden Rules of Survival Driving 101 :

Rule 1 : Do not under any circumstances allow your vehicle to be brought to a complete stop by another vehicle or person.

Rule 2 : When the pedal hits the metal, it don't matter what's behind you. It is what is in front of you that you have to worry about.

The sad thing is that people who genuinely need help may never get it as no one will risk falling a victim.
Every man for himself and God for us all, this is really bad.

Truequest:

The sad thing is that people who genuinely need help may never get it as no one will risk falling a victim.
Every man for himself and God for us all, this is really bad.

You are exactly right my brotha. Exactly right!
Taking advantage of and exploiting peoples kindness is the lowest form of depravity