Gardnerville residents alarm against bike riders

Residents of Barnesville and Gardnersville in Montserrado County have alarmed over the constant violation of government’s 10 PM regulation for commercial motorcycles to leave the streets.

The government through the Liberia National Police (LNP) issued the directive about two years to all commercial motorcycles operating in the country, mandating them to park at 10 PM.

The regulation followed persistent reports of armed robbery, hijacking and other crimes executed by criminals transported by bikes, especially during night hours.
However, contrary to the directive, residents complain that commercial motorcycles remain in the street up to 12 midnight and 2:00 in the morning, commuting people whose clear identities are not established into their communities.

Speaking to this paper over the weekend, residents of Gradnersville Township, Mrs. Comfort Dukuly Gibson and Mr. Duncan Allen of Barnesville explained that they have observed since the beginning of 2018 up to present, commercial motorcyclists continue to ply the streets at late hours in clear disregard of the regulation.

They expressed fear that if nothing were urgently done by government to curtail the movement of motorcycle in their areas, armed robbery and other criminal activities which necessitated the 10PM regulation, would resurfaced there.

They also note that some unknown armed robbers last week attacked a resident of Dixville, using commercial motorcycle to carry out their criminal operation.
They want leaderships of their respective townships to coordinate with the Liberia National Police to enforce the guideline regulating the movement of commercial motorcycles in the country.

The residents stress that concrete steps should be taken by the authorities to prevent dangerous criminals from taking advantage of the absence of police regular night time patrol, which serve as a deterrence for would-be criminals and operators of commercial motorcycles in Montserrado County.

They threatened to organize and deploy members of their community watch teams to ensure that commercial motorcycle operators do not go in their areas after the 10 PM restriction imposed by the government.

By Emmanuel Mondaye-Editing by Jonathan Browne