joshua
BY IKHILI EBALU, BENIN CITY.
There was heavy traffic hold up around the Ring road down to the DSS office office in Benin City yesterday as tipper drivers blocked the roads with their vehicles in protest against the killing of one of their member.
The yet to be identified Tipping-truck driver has been reportedly shot dead by operatives of Department of State Service (DSS) in Edo State.
The incident was said to have occurred on Tuesday morning along Ikpoba-slope road by the tipping-truck garage in Benin City, the State capital.
The now deceased driver was said to be in company of colleagues who had volunteered to control the early morning traffic on the road.
It was gathered that trouble started when some vehicles conveying DSS operatives drove against traffic in a bid to avoid traffic hold up on the other lane of the dual-carriage way.
A witness simply identified as Osaghae said: “there was an hilux blarring siren and driving one way… On sighting the hilux, the tipper drivers controlling the traffic allowed the vehicle to move on because there were security operatives inside.
“After the hilux, one other Audi car drove behind; and the drivers controlling the traffic attempted to accost it to use the right way; unknown to them that the car was also conveying plain-clothes operatives.
“And before a blink of eye, the DSS operatives opened fire which resulted in the death of a tipper driver.
“They (DSS) thereafter arrested three traffic control volunteers and also took the body of the deceased driver away.”
The development caused heavy gridlock in the Benin metropolis as other drivers protested the death of their colleague.
Meanwhile, the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) said in a bid to free arrested kidnappers in Ikpoba Slope in Ikpoba Okha local government area of Edo State that they were attached by hoodlums.
According to DSS, ” hoodlums got a tip off that the DSS operatives have arrested three of their men who are involved in kidnapping and decided to lay siege on them by the popular Tipper Garage by the Tenboga Junction to free them.
The source said the hoodlums, upon sighting the DSS operatives, pounced on them with guns and various dangerous weapons.
The DSS source said its operatives sustained vary degrees of injuries from the attack while their vehicles were also damaged
It was gathered that the female among them was almost raped by the hoodlums.
It was also learnt that the hoodlums engaged the operatives of the DSS in a fierce gun battle but they (hoodlums) succumbed to the superior powers of the DSS resulting to the death of one of the hoodlums.
The source said three of the suspected kidnappers were eventually arrested and are cooling off in their custody.
The DSS source said the operatives is poised to join hands with other of her sister agencies to make the state a crime free state for all.
Repeated gunshots were heard at the DSS office in Benin City as the protesting drivers marched towards the facility.
A source at the DSS however alleged that hoodlums pounced on some operatives with guns and various dangerous weapons in a bid to free arrested kidnappers in Ikpoba Slope.
According to the source, “one of the hoodlums succumbed to the superior power of the DSS which resulted to his death”.
