Abia residents alarmed over high rate of killing of POS operators

Residents of Aba have called on the Inspector General of Police to urgently make a change in the police leadership in Abia State following unending killings of Point of Sale (POS) operators.

New Telegraph reports that from the twilight of 2020 till January 2021, POS operators in Aba have not known peace. Robbers, who usually ride on tricycles, have been robbing and killing POS operators. 

A few days after the killing of a POS operator at No 98, Market Road, Victor Igbokwe, a female operator, Ezinne Grace Iroh, was killed at the weekend on Ukaegbu Road at Ogbor Hill area of the city.

Witnesses said the robbers invaded Iroh’s kiosk in a tricycle and shot her in the chest as she tried to protect a bag believed to be containing cash for the day’s business.

The shooting caused panic in the area as people scampered for safety, leaving Iroh in a pool of blood. She bled with no help. But when help eventually came her way, it was too late.

She died while receiving treatment in a hospital at the weekend. Miss Oluchi, one of the witnesses, said a police checkpoint by men of the Ogbor-Hill Division was near the scene of the incident, but the police did not  make any effort to save the POS operator. 

On 25th December 2020, a man, Mr. Chinedu, was shot, but not killed, right inside his POS kiosk on Jubilee Road by Asa Road in the Aba metropolis. Some of the residents described the crime situation in Aba as worrisome and called on the IG to rejig Abia State Police Command, as the current leadership appeared toothless (New Telegraph: Excludes headline)