Many traders at Okobaba Sawmill, Lagos Mainland, are counting their losses after hoodlums reportedly invaded the market around 5pm on Friday and looted about 35 shops.
Daily Trust learnt that the thugs, armed with guns, operated freely till around 4am on Saturday and brought in a vehicle to evacuate their loot.
It was gathered that policemen from Adekunle and Denton divisions could not stop the assailants as they were reportedly afraid to enter the sawmill which is located in a slum.
Daily Trust learnt that what eventually degenerated into the looting started as a clash between boys from Jebba and Ibadan streets and their rivals from Abeokuta Street.
Sources, which confided in our correspondent, identified some notorious members of the rival gangs as Omo B, Baba Muri, Gideon, Abu Onigbo, Ila and Epon.
They were said to have exploited the ensuing confusion to rob innocent traders, carting away valuables and cash.
The General Secretary, Lagos Mainland Sawmillers Association, Mr Titus Ikuejamoye, told Daily Trust that the hoodlums stole generators, phone accessories, freezers and building materials worth millions of naira.
Ikuejamoye said traders in the sawmill had no disagreement with the thugs, lamenting that the hoodlums had deployed clashes as tactics to rob unsuspecting people.
The secretary of Ward F Unit, the section of the sawmill attacked on Friday, Mr Orioye Agbudeloye, said hoodlums had instilled fear in traders and made the market environment tense.
He said he escaped from the sawmill and watched from afar as the shops were being burgled without any restraint from the police.
However, the Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Police Command, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said it was not true that the police watched while the hoodlums looted the shops, adding that they would have called for backup if the situation was overwhelming.
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