BANK robbers went on the prowl in Lagos and Port Harcourt, yesterday, killing 10 people, eight of them policemen, in two operations. But it was the police who had the upper hands in a separate encounter with robbers in Benin, weekend, killing four of the bandits.
The Lagos gang killed an Inspector, two Sergeants, a Corporal and two civilians when the policemen engaged them (robbers) in a gun duel at Abule-Egba where the gang had gone to rob a bank. The effort of the policemen frustrated the attempt to rob the bank.
Vanguard gathered that the gang of 20 robbers had stormed the bank at about 1.00a.m. and started shooting. That was after successfully robbing a nearby eatery. While breaking into the bank, however, residents alerted the police who quickly dispatched a team of anti-robbery policemen to the scene.
The arrival of the policemen there provoked a shoot-out during which the four policemen and the two civilians died. Unsure of what was to come, the robbers fled the scene.
News of the death of the policemen soon hit the state police command which immediately went into mourning. The Police Commissioner, Mr. Emmanuel Adebayo, constituted a high powered team of crack detectives from the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) Criminal Investigation Bureau and the anti-robbery squads to go after the robbers.
Spokesperson for the command, Mr. Olabode Ojajuni, described the late officers as dependable and fearless members of the anti-robbery team of the command. The officers, he said, died gallantly as they gave their best in the quest to protect lives and property.
He asked Lagos residents to volunteer information that could help track down perpetrators of the dastardly act. �We are appealing to the good people of Lagos State to help assist the police with useful information that can help us get these people. They are not spirits. They are human beings and they live with us. The police is serving the nation and, therefore, deserved to be assisted especially with useful information that will help us combat crime in the state,� Mr. Ojajuni said.
Robbers escape with bullion van
In the Port Harcourt robbery, the bandits overpowered the policemen attached to a bullion van conveying money from a new generation bank on Trans Amadi Road in Port Harcourt to Yenagoa, and sped off with the van.
The robbers also left a woman cashier in the vehicle and two Mobile Police men dead. A third Mobile Police man sustained bullet wounds.
Another eyewitness, however, put the number of Policemen killed at four. Sources said the robbers drove off in the van towards Ahoada.
Meanwhile, one of the Mobile Policemen in the vehicle reportedly escaped unhurt. Contacted on phone, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Baresua Ireju, confirmed the incident but added that she was yet to get details. She said the security escorts attached to the vehicle were not from her command.
4 robbers shot dead
Four armed robbers were, weekend, shot dead by the police in Edo State when they engaged men of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) in a gun duel as they were robbing a commercial bus on the Benin by-pass.
The police have also impounded a 405 Saloon car with tinted glasses loaded with bags of weeds suspected to be Indian hemp on the Benin-Auchi road.
It was learnt that the robbers who specialised in robbing passengers travelling to the East through the by-pass met their waterloo after men of the SARS received a tip-off that the bandits were operating in the area and had attacked a commercial bus with number plate Enugu XL 144 ENU going to the East.
Vanguard gathered that when the hoodlums sighted the policemen, they opened fire on them but were overwhelmed by the superior fire power of the policemen. Four were shot dead while others escaped through the bush with bullet wounds.
The state police spokesman, ASP Peter Ogboi, who confirmed the incident to Vanguard, said assorted ammunition were recovered from the robbers. He appealed to hospitals to inform the police before treating anybody with gun shot wounds.
Meanwhile, the vehicle with number plate FQ 346 AAA was impounded after its occupants suspected to be dealers in Indian hemp fled into the bush, abandoning the vehicle when they sighted the police.