Two set ablaze for snatching handbag, phone in Anambra

Two persons were Thursday set ablaze in Anambra for allegedly snatching a woman’s handbag and a mobile phone.

A witness said the third suspect escaped by the whiskers, adding that they operated in a tricycle.

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He said, “The men, using a tricycle to rob, stopped and dispossessed a woman of her phone. As they went back into the tricycle, it refused to start.

“They became frightened and, in the process, some boys who were loading vehicles in a motor park quickly descended on them, beating them up.

“Some people brought tyres and others brought fuel, and they were set ablaze immediately.”

The police spokesman in Anambra State, Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the incident.

He said two persons were burnt while the third escaped.

He said police officers recovered a tricycle, handbag and a mobile phone that was allegedly stolen from a female victim by hoodlums operating along Owerri Road, Onitsha.

“Police operatives are already on ground there, and efforts are emplaced to bring normalcy to the area and possibly to apprehend the fleeing gang member,” he said.

He told members of the public not to take laws into their hands.