Phone Snatcher Escapes Lynching, As Police Detain Vigilante For Holding Suspect Hostage

A suspected handset thief would have been lynched in Mile 3 area of Port Harcourt recently but for the early arrival of the police at the scene.

Luck ran out on the suspect when he took the route manned by the local vigilante and was readily apprehended. He was said to be fleeing after robbing a female victim of her GSM phone.

The fleeing suspect was also reported to have inflicted injuries on some of the vigilante guards while struggling to escape which prompted the attempt by a mob to lynch him but for the police intervention.

Meanwhile, the leader of the vigilante is said to have been equally arrested by the Nkpolu Divisional Police for detaining the suspect upon arrest.

A source said the grouse of the police for arresting the head of the vigilante alongside the suspect was that the local security outfit lacked the constitutional right to detain suspects without reporting to the police.