A video posted on the social media has revealed the moment operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad shot dead two suspected phone thieves in Lagos.
The video showed two of the suspects handcuffed to each other as an officer approached with a third suspect.
The man filming the scene was heard identifying them as he gloated over their arrest.
“You go collect, you go collect,” he said in pidgin English as he filmed the suspects, adding that they had a gun.
There was a sudden gunshot.
The third suspect was shown on the floor of a yellow minibus that appeared to have been hired for the police operation.
The suspect was handcuffed as he reeled in pain.
Then the policemen, who kept threatening to kill the suspects, ordered them out of the bus.
“Come down! Come down!” they barked at the suspects.
One of the policemen was seen pushing one of the suspects to the cops, who had taken firing squad positions.
“Leave am, make I kill am,” one of the policemen said.
“Kunle, commot there make dem kill the idiot,” another cop said.
Two gunshots followed.
“God punish you! We no dey waste time,” the killer cop said triumphantly.
Disclosing the offences of the suspects, the man who filmed the action, said they usually operated on Jiji.com, an online sales platform.
He said they lured their victims by promising to buy advertised phones at good prices.
Afterwards, he said the men would collect the phones at gunpoint.
He said, “They post on Jiji that they buy phones. Then, they will call you and price your phone at a higher price.
“After calling you, they will collect your phone at gunpoint. This happens at Igando.
“So, they collected my friend’s phone. My friend then changed his number on Jiji and posted another phone for sale.
“They called him again and he decided to go there with anti-robbery operatives to arrest them so that he could get his phone back.
“The anti-robbery team got there, caught them and shot them.”
Nigerians wondered why the suspects were killed, saying the policemen might be trying to cover up some things.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Bala Elkana, could not be reached for comments as his line rang out.
