A motorcycle repair workshop in the Serrekunda suburb of Bakoteh, has been reported to be the base for 15 armed robbers headed by one Lamin Coma.

The alleged ring leader is a resident of Dippa Kunda and was reportedly arrested by the police.

A press release from the Inspector General of Police, which was broadcasted on GRTS, indicated that the gang has an underground apartment in the Serrekunda suburb of Manjai Kunda, which they use as a warehouse for stolen items.

The police revealed that the men used bows and arrows in their operations, a fact which was duely confirmed by an attacked victim.

Narrating the incident to the Daily Observer, Alhaji Alfsainey Bah, one of the victims of the armed bandits, said he heard a persistent knock on his door at around 03:00 am, while he was in bed with his wife. Mr. Bah said when he asked to know who was at the door, one of the armed attackers replied in a threatening voice, “If you do not open the door, we will kill you. My wife then got scared and I was compelled to open the door”.

He added: “As I unlocked the metal door, the armed robbers forcefully entered the house and one of them attacked me, while the other two men took money. They also took so many other items, all of which I cannot name. As I tried to sneak away for my life, my wife screamed out: “Thieves! Thieves! Thieves!” The neighbours rushed out to help. But the robbers had already escaped by that the time,” he explained.

Continuing his narration, Mr. Bah disclosed that he had seriously wounded one of his attackers, before the other two men, who were then standing at the door rushed in. “One of them struck me on the head with a cutlass. I then collapsed and became unconscious”, he added.

One Momodou Salieu Jallow and his wife, Mariama Bah, said the same group of men snuck through the back of his shop and then used a heavy metal bar to forcefully open the back door. He said the incident occurred on the same Friday night, when he was in bed with his wife.

Momodou Salieu Jallow explained that they threatened to kill him and his family if they screamed out. “I also told them to take whatever they wanted because I wanted them to spare my life and the lives of my family. But my wife could not withstand the scary situation. She screamed out. One of the attackers then struck my hand severely with a cutlass”, he added.

He told the Daily Observer that the neighbours then came to their rescue, adding that some of the robbers where speaking in Wollof and Mandinka.

Mawdou Saho, an eyewitness and a neighbour of the victims, said he came to know about the attack, when his dog started to bark ceaselessly. “I walked out of the house and then I heard somebody screaming for help. Upon me trying to open the corridor, I saw Alhaji Alfsainey Bah lying in a pool of blood. His wife told me that they were forcefully attacked by unidentified armed men”, Mr. Saho said.

It could be recalled that on March 23, a group of heavily armed robbers, attacked and robbed a number of local shops in Bakoteh, before taking off with money and valuable items.