Jungle Justice: Mob lynches suspected phone snatchers in Plateau

A mob on Friday lynched some suspected cult members in Jenta Adamu, a community in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State.

The spokesperson of the state police command, Alabo Alfred, said the incident happened around 9:20 a.m. but did not give the number of the victims.

However, sources in the area told journalists that two suspected phone snatchers were killed.

Mr Alfred said the police received a report in the early hours of 29 November of a mob action.

“The report, which was received through a distress call from a concerned citizen of Jenta Adamu, stated that at approximately 09:20 a.m., a group of yet-to-be-identified cult members had invaded their community and were attempting to rob law-abiding citizens of their belongings. In response to the call, the Plateau State Commissioner of Police immediately ordered the Divisional Police Officer, “A” Division Jos, to deploy police officers and detectives to the scene and begin an investigation into the matter.

“Upon arrival, our team discovered that an angry mob had taken matters into their own hands and pursued the invaders mobbed them and set them ablaze. The police, in collaboration with the leadership of Jos North Local Government Area, have evacuated the burnt bodies from the scene and deposited them at the hospital morgue. Upon intensifying our investigation into the incident, two locally fabricated pistols, believed to belong to the unidentified cult members, were recovered from the scene,” Mr Alfred said.

Victims were phone thieves – Witness

However, Samuel John, a member of the community, told our correspondent that the suspected victims were phone snatchers who, earlier in the morning, snatched a phone in the area and killed the owner.

According to Mr John, “The suspects had around 5:30 a.m. attacked a member of the community and killed him. Upon hearing the gunshots by the suspects, youths in their numbers mobilised, arrested and took them to the riverside where they placed tyres on them and burned them to death.”

The police, however, appealed that whenever suspects are arrested, they should be handed over to the relevant security agency, to ensure that justice is served in accordance with the provisions of the law, warning that any person or group of persons caught executing Jungle Justice would be dealt with in accordance with the law.