An Encounter With Armed Robbers..(And Police)

It was scary - real scary stuff!! The encounter with men of the underworld right there in the safety of my bedroom. I have heard about robbery encounters before, but have never come close to one. The closest was when our luxurious bus driver clambered on some rocks used to barricade the road between Kaduna and Abuja. The dare devil driver had to drive in total darkness for about 3 kilometres before stopping to enable us take to the bush for cover in case the robbers were pursuing the bus. To me it was all fun - like some scenes in the action films I used to read.

But this one was different. I have not gotten over the aftershock till date.

I got home Thursday last week, after a hard day's work, ate, had a cold shower and went straight to bed. I was rudely awaken by three fully armed hoodlums that barged into my room. They flashed their light on my face and started issuing conflicting orders - "Don't move", "Get up", "Lie on the floor" etc. I was thoroughly confused and decided to do nothing. A rough kick to the midsection reminded me to always obey the last order. I fell flat on my face while one of the gang bound my legs and hands then covered my face with cloth. It was a sorry sight.

They then turned to my wife. "Where is the money?", they barked. She politely told them we do not keep money in the house. Okay, where is your feeding money? I told her to check inside my dress pocket. I had money on two sides of my pocket. N100,000.00, meant for my workers' salary on one side and N30,00 meant for some urgent purchases on the other. How my wife managed to get the nerves to do it I never knew. As casually as possible she weighed the pockets, dipped hands in the lighter one, handed the content to the robbers and dropped the dress as if that was all.

The robbers then went ahead to turn the whole house upside down with the assistance of my wife. "Open that drawer", "What of that box"... was all I heard from my prostrate position on the floor. When they had satisfied themselves there was no other money in the house, they asked for the car keys. She gave them. They collected her handset and asked for mine. I could not easily recall where I left it last and told them so. Since they did not want to risk loosing my bonds, they soon forgot about my handset.

They now asked my wife to enter the bathroom and lie on the floor. That was when my adrenalin shot up and I wanted to act like a man. A gentle push of cold steel to the back of my neck jolted me back to reality as I calmed down expecting the worst. Thankfully, they had other things in their minds. They bound my wife hands and feet and proceeded to the car. The sound of the engine roaring to life at 3 in the morning was too much for me. How could they make away with my car just like that? With great efforts I wriggled free from the bonds on my hands and feet and ran outside only to see the rear light disappearing into distant darkness.

I went to check the other members of the house, they were securedly locked up in their rooms. I opened the door and set them free. I went to my wife loosed her bonds and proceeded to the gate to search for the gateman. He was the first victim. I loosed him. They had apparently scaled the fence, caught the gateman unawares and went ahead to cut the prison like protectors on the window of the sitting room through where they entered the house for their operation.

I searched for my phone and called the Police Control Room to report the robbery. They asked me to wait as they would contact me later. After three minutes they called back to inform me they had recovered the vehicle, but that the hoodlums got away. They gave me an address of the police station where my vehicle could be retrieved. I thanked them profusely, waited for the day to break and proceeded to the Police Station.

I thought the police would ask a few questions, maybe ask me to write a statement and then congratulate me before releasing my car. It was not so to be. The Police officer in charge asked me to deposit N2,000 so that they could hasten the documentation process. I gave him and he asked me to come back the following day. That was how my regular, daily visits to the Police Station started. I could not go to work. They made it a habit of calling me to the station any time they liked for some frivolities only to keep me waiting for a long time before asking me to go.

After five days of doing this, they finally informed me that the DPO had given the instruction that my vehicle be released with the rider that I had to show gratitude to the boys that recovered the vehicle. That would cost me another N10,000. I tried to negotiate the price but was told blandly that the offer was not negotiable. I paid, signed some other documents and was given my keys and documents. As I started the vehicle to go home happily, another gun totting policeman stopped me and asked me to pay demurrage for keeping the vehicle in the station for so long. Another N1,000 had to exchange hands.

As I write, I am yet to recover from the shock of the incident. I wake up at any slight sound. The fact that the high fence, the security man and the prison bars like protectors around me could not offer me enough safety at night scares me to death. I asked the policeman what else to do, he told me to get some dogs in the compound that would at least alert me of the presence of intruders. Port Harcourt is gradually going back to the dogs. May God help us all.

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