Bandits attack Nollywood actors at film shooting location
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NIGERIA: DARE-DEVIL armed bandits have invaded a film shooting location in Abeokuta and carted away equipment worth hundred thousands of naira.
Eyewitnesses told GatewayMail that the robbers invaded the centre about 11.30pm last Friday night.
One of the artistes on location, Zainab Bakare, said on Saturday that the robbers arrived the scene in an unmarked Toyota Sienna car.
Bakare explained that film shooting was ongoing at the Quarry/Pepsi Road in the Ogun State capital when the bandits, numbering four and fully armed, alighted from their vehicle.
According to her, they ordered all the artistes to lie face down before ransacking them.
She told GatewayMail that the bandits forced them to lie inside the gutter throughout the robbery operation.
Bakare stated that film production equipment that included cameras, generator and their personal effects and money were carted away by the hoodlums.
“We were busy shooting the film beside the road when the gang arrived in a Sienna car with no registration number,” she said, adding: “Initially, we thought they were Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and temporarily suspended our recording.”
She added: “But to our dismay, the bandits drew out gun, asking all of us to cooperate with them or else they’ll waste our lives.”
The actress further explained that at that point, the recording crew realized they were in serious trouble and yielded to the bandits’ directive.
Bakare also said that the robbers robbed them of their properties which also include laptops, wristwatches, mobile phones and cash.
While corroborating Bakare’s explanation, a film producer, Adebisi Babalola-Hassan said that it was a sad experience and expressed shock why theatre practitioners suddenly became target of attack by robbers, particularly at film location.
Babalola-Hassan said that she noticed that the bandits had earlier passed the road, only to return to attack them when they were shooting a scene of the film.
The female producer, who had earlier produced a film entitled Alade Aiye said that the robbery incident resulted in shock for some of the artistes who were taken to the hospital for medical treatment.
The producer, who just returned from hospital after treatment, said that at a point the bandits threatened to kill one of the famous actors, Niyi Johnson, for allegedly looking at them.
According to her, other crew members pleaded with the robbers, the action which saved Johnson from being killed, but they went away with his Jeep car’ key.
This move, she stated, appeared to be a ploy to “deny us the possibility of pursuing them with the car after the operations.”
She said: “The robbery operations lasted for about 20 minutes and ironically no vehicle passed the road as the robbery lasted.
“The bandits made away with our personal effects, as well as our shooting equipment, which include cameras, lighting, bags containing our costumes, even our generator. The experience was shocking, I’m just returning from the hospital as a result of the trauma.”
The producer said the incident had been reported at the police station in Abeokuta for investigation and arrest of the culprits.
