Armed robbers laid siege to the Benin-Sagamu Expressway as Yuletide is fast approaching.

Armed robbers laid siege to the Benin-Sagamu Expressway as Yuletide is fast approaching. Our correspondent gathered that robbery incidents occur daily on the highway in the past two weeks. Newspaper delivery vans and other haulage vehicles, it was learnt, were not spared from the attacks. Delivery vans belonging to a newspaper company were attacked on two different occasions last week. Last Tuesday, the van that brought newspapers to Akure, the Ondo State capital, in an attempt to avoid a roadblock mounted by robbers, veered off his lane and collided with an oncoming vehicle.The accident resulted in the death of two persons while some passengers were seriously injured.The following day, another Toyota Hilux delivery van of the same company which headed for Akure was stopped by some bandits. But the driver who refused to stop narrowly escaped death as shots fired at him hit the side of the van.He, however, ended up with a not-too-deep cut on his hand. An alleged member of the gang was later arrested at Ore by men of the Ondo State Police Command who were on patrol. Some motorists told our correspondent that armed robbers found it easy to carry out their operations due to potholes at some failed sections of the road. One of the victims of the attack, a journalist with Ekiti State Broadcasting Service, Mr. Bisi Longe, blamed the police for his woes. He said his car was stopped at a police checkpoint within Ogun State about 7.30pm and was only asked to leave the spot at about 11.45pm. Moments after leaving the scene, his car, he said, ran into a dicth on the road and while trying to get away from it, armed robbers numbering about seven pounced on him. “At about midnight, I was stopped by a gang of robbers. I was thoroughly beaten because I did not have much money on me. I was slapped until I had a bloodshot eye and I was hit with a heavy object on my knee – I had a dislocation and could not walk for many days.” he stated. However, the Ondo State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Adeniran Aremu, said there was no upsurge of robbery incidents on the highways in the state.He said the command had been able to check activities of criminals in the state. Aremu stated that the command carried out effective patrol of Ajebandele which is the border town between Ondo and Ogun states and Ofosu which is Ondo State boundary with Edo State . He said that the police were aware that robbery activities were always on the increase during the last quarter of every year, noting that the command was on top of the situation.