BEETHAM Gardens resident were happy that the police raided the area last Thursday.

While some were upset and crying out against police brutality, others were revelling in the 12 hour-long exercise in which 27 were arrested.

Some middle-aged residents told TnT Mirror that Ruben Akayo and his gang were menaces to law-abiding residents of the area. The citizens’ initial reaction to the early-morning incursion, which left Akayo brain dead, was that of relief.

One resident related: “I remember back in the days when we were younger growing up in this area, there was a unique oneness in the people. We could have gone out any hour of the day or night and come back any hour as we please.

“I not saying that everyone in the area was good back in the days; but back then the bad apples used to go outside the area and do their thing.

“When they came back you used to hear them talking about what they did on the block.”

The resident continued: “Oh how time has chanced.

“Now the up-and-coming criminals have turned the tables on the people of their own community making it no longer safe to carry on a normal life without fear.

“I was glad they take them down because just now them same fellas would have started taxing people in the area.

“Most of us happy but can’t express it because you never know who could be listening.”

Another resident expressed grief over the entire situation but boasted that there were many good people in the Beetham and only a handful of criminals.

He contended that most residents know who the wrongdoers are but keep tight-lipped as they fear for their own well-being.

The resident left a message for all the other inhabitants of Beetham: “Leave the police let them do their damn job and restore peace to our once-loving community!”