AT least 18 suspected robbers have been killed by irate Lagos residents in the last week, press reports said on Wednesday. The victims were roasted alive by the residents, who organised themselves into a vigilante group in the Ebute-Metta area of the city, the independent newspaper The Punch said. Amid escalating crime in Lagos, residents of the area had been held under virtual siege by thieves for some time before they launched what they called “operation war against robbers” to flush out the hoodlums from their midst. The police were not available on Wednesday to comment on the incident.