Traders at the UTC market, Area 10, Garki, Abuja, and residents of the area are reported to have scampered for safety as security operatives were in a confrontational attack with hoodlums who are trying to loot a warehouse located within the axis of the Cyprian Ekwensi building and the UTC market.
In a bid to stop the attack, the policemen and other security personnel fired gunshots and tear gas at hoodlums who invaded the warehouse stashed with COVID-19 palliatives in the early hours of today, Saturday, October 24, 2020.
A graphics designer by the name Segun Stickers, revealed that the UTC market and the shopping plaza in the area had been shut down.
Read Also: COVID-19 Palliatives: Prelude to the Looting
He said, ‘We are presently locked inside the UTC market. The police are firing gunshots and tear gas to stave off the attack by the hoodlums who were trying to loot the COVID-19 palliatives kept in a warehouse here.’
He added by saying, ‘Many people were injured while trying to escape attack by the hoodlums and the whole area is in turmoil.’
ASP Mariam Yusuf, the Federal Capital Territory police spokesperson, confirmed that the police were deployed to curtail the hoodlum operation at the UTC market and other public infrastructure so as to stop them from looting.
With reference to a similar situation which happened at Old NITEL beside Total filling station in Bukuru, Plateau State where hundreds of residents are seen carting away COVID-19 foodstuff palliatives; bags of rice and millet stored by the state government.
