No end in sight for UBA customers as robbers intensify actions.
3 min read
There seems to be no end for the criminal activities of motorcycle boys who monitor the movements of some UBA customers who visit the bank in Umuaka to withdraw money daily. Many businessmen and women have lost huge sums of money totaling over 10 million Naira to the activities of the robbers who are yet to be identified and apprehended.
It can be recalled that the UBA branch in Umuaka has been under lock and key for a couple of months now due to the activities of some criminal elements in the community. Since the branch office of the bank was suspended in Umuaka a couple of months ago, many Akalites and others who use the Umuaka bank shifted their transactions to the branch of the same bank in Nwa Orieubi Orodo area. When it was announced that the Umuaka branch of the bank was closing, many supported the move while thinking that they would secure solace at the nearby Nwa Orieubi branch but unknown to them, it was the different side of the same coin.
Umuaka Times was reliably informed last week that several customers of the bank who had gone to the Nwa Orieubi branch of UBA to effect withdrawals at different occasions, lost their money to criminals on a planned attack after successfully trailing them from the bank. A young Akalite lady told Umuaka Times last week how she was confronted and seriously beaten until she lost consciousness while the robbers were trying to snatch the money she withdrew from the branch. According to her, the robbers were successful in snatching the total sum of N300,000 which belonged to some aged women and widows in her community. Till date, she has not seen any means of paying back the money as she is an apprentice. The aged women and widows too whose money was stolen, have also sent words to her that all they need is their money which is their only hope for the Christmas. She used the Umuaka Times platform to appeal to Akalites to help her through Umuaka Times raise the N300,000 for the sake of the widows and aged women in her community whom the money belonged to.
There was also among several cases, one young guy who drove to the same branch and made some withdrawals and instead of putting the money in a bag, he decided to put it in the different pockets of his jeans trouser. When he drove away from the bank while coming towards Umuaka, he was confronted by the same boys who pointed a gun at him. He jumped down from the car and ran away. The robbers did not go searching his car, but they gave him a deadly chase and eventually snatched the whole money from his pockets.
The manner by which these operations are successfully carried out without traces, have made the victims of the robbery attacks to suspect that there must be a role played by some bank insiders. Some have raised some important questions and even suggested ways to curb the menace.
For now, there is no end in sight. This is the crux of the problem.
