Two suspected phone snatchers were reportedly lynched by a mob in Kano after allegedly stealing a girl’s mobile phone near Fatima Special Primary School in Gyadi-Gyadi, opposite the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital gate.
Witnesses said the girl had handed over her phone to the suspects and was unable to raise an alarm out of fear of being attacked.
The suspects were also said to have attacked another male passerby and taken his phone, drawing the attention of people nearby.
Some passersby reportedly confronted the knife-wielding youths after the second incident.
A POS operator near the Court Road roundabout said the suspects, who were allegedly armed with sharp knives, provoked anger by daring anyone to challenge them.
He said, “It is not the first time phone snatchers would attack people here and many are angry. When these two boys seized phones belonging to a girl and a male passerby, people descended on them.
“We watched as they were beaten unconscious. I was told that one of them died at the hospital where they were taken after being rescued from the mob.”
Another witness said he encountered a crowd near the Court Road roundabout while coming from Naibawa, which later turned out to be a mob attacking the suspects.
“They were severely injured after repeated beatings, with blood visible on their faces and bodies. The suspected thieves appeared to be young men in their 20s,” the witness said.
