Three guards of Finesse Security Ltd have been arrested by the police over the looting of a shop and carting away of goods worth over N30 million by armed robbers at Ikota Shopping Complex which borders Victoria Garden City (VGC), Lekki Peninsula, Lagos.

The shop is owned by  the Chief Executive Officer(CEO), Superior Mobile Investment Ltd and iClick Gadgets, Dr. Helen O. Eto,  who has been doing business peacefully at the facility for about two decades.

The shopping facility is run by HFP Properties Ltd which hired Finesse Security Ltd.

According to Mrs Eto, the robbers struck at the complex that has about 1,850 shops in the early hours of March 7th, 2023, explaining that  guards claimed that they forgot to lock the gate of the facility, allowing the hoodlums to cart away phones and other goods from  freshly restocked shop.

Lamenting her ordeal to the police in Ajah and Panti, Yaba, Mrs. Eto said: “We took bank loan for the business plus our savings.

 “We plead that the police should help us to get to the bottom of the looting as our blood pressures  have shot up sharply because this is our main source of livelihood. A list of the goods looted from the shop was/is attached to my statements at Ajah Police Station and SIB, Yaba.”

Chairman, Editorial Board of The Daily Times and a media consultant, Omokioja Julius Eto,  corroborated his wife’s account. Eto, a former Associate Editor of The Guardian and Editor-in-Chief of The Trumpet, said: “The robbery is shocking because the security gate is inaccessible even to shop owners at night, our shop is just a stone’s throw from the gate and it would have taken about at least two hours to cut through the shop’s security system.

 “This makes us to strongly see the guards as the main suspects. We were not immediately notified by the security firm or the facility managers (HFP) of the robbery which we only got to be aware of at about 8.20am through one of our employees.”

A former Editor of The Daily Times, Eto who had also worked as a senior editor at the Punch and THISDAY, added: “Since the break-in on March 7 till March 30, Finesse Security Ltd did not  call to sympathise with us but was   evading our calls and texts to its MD whom we learnt travelled abroad after the robbery.

“We have been doing everything to support the police investigation despite our predicament and hope they will bring the culprits to justice.”

thisday