An angry mob has set a suspected robber ablaze along Owerri-Orlu Road after Akwakuma Junction in Owerri North Local Government Area of Imo State.

An eyewitness said that the incident occurred around 5pm on Tuesday.

According to the eyewitness, the people beat and later set the suspected robber ablaze when they learnt that he shot a man who confronted him when he was about to rob a woman said to be operating a POS of her money at gunpoint.

“It was around 5pm a man alighted from his Toyota Corolla car and then went straight to a woman operating a POS at the junction to rob her with a gun but a man selling cement nearby saw the armed robber and rushed him then the robber shot him on the chest.

“Immediately the gun was released the passersby including Okada riders rushed him and beat him up and pushed him into a gutter and burnt him alive. They gave him jungle justice,”he said.

Another source said: “The people used woods, stones to knock him down into the gutter and the Okada riders brought petrol to set the armed robber on fire when he came to rob a lady in an open place near a gas company in the area.”

When the Nation visited the scene on Thursday, the body has been evacuated but some charred remains of the suspected robber and congealed blood were still in the gutter with his black canvass shoe left unburnt.

Contacted, the Police spokesman in the state, CSP Michael Abattam told our correspondent that he was not aware of the incident. (The Nation)