There was mayhem in Ijegun area of Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria on Saturday as a mob beat a policeman to death for killing a tailor in her shop.
Reports had it that officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, were chasing suspected Yahoo Boys and were shooting indiscriminately when a stray bullet hit the woman, simply identified as Biliki in her shop. She was rushed to the hospital but died.
But Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Lagos State Police Command, Bala Elkana said the police officers were not SARS, but officers of the Anti-Kidnapping Team.
It was gathered that immediately the woman was killed, a mob seized one of the policemen and attempted to lynch him after beating him mercilessly.
The mob was said to have taken the policeman to a traditional ruler in Ijegun.
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An eye witness, Adesina Ayodele said the woman “was in her shop at Ijegun junction, Ijagemo road while some member of the SARS were chasing some yahoo boys, spraying bullets and a stray bullet eventually caught her. The members of the SARS had to run for their lives while youth were on the street trying to bring them out.
“The boys caught two of them in the swamp and took them to the Palace of Oba Ijegun.”
According to a resident in the area, the road in front of the King’s palace was impassable at the moment, while vehicle movements had been diverted into a nearby street to access Ijegun bus stop.
But Elkana disclosed that a policeman was killed while two others were injured during the fracas, adding that the police had deployed more men to the area to maintain peace.
“They were Anti-Kidnap, not SARS operatives. We don’t have the details of what happened for now. But the mob has killed one policeman and injured two. The area is still tense. But we are handling it,” he said