Residents of Ugbowo in Benin city have called on the Nigerian Police to increase police patrols in the area following an armed robbery incident in which some of them were dispossessed of hundreds of thousands of naira.

The residents said about  17 robbers raided Uwagboe, Obakpolor and Uwasota streets between 8pm to 9pm on Wednesday night shooting sporadically in the air to scare the residents in the area.

According to them, the robbers carted away money and handsets of shop owners and passers-by  walking along the street.

A source at the State Police headquarters said investigation is on going on the incident and that the police will respond when it concludes its investigation.