Police Arrest 2 Bank Robbers

The police in Akure, Ondo State, have arrested two persons suspected to be members of a gang of armed robbers who allegedly robbed a bank in Owo on Wednesday, 1 November.

Mr Sani Magaji, the Commissioner of Police in the state, who announced this on Thursday in Akure while briefing newsmen on the incident, said the suspects were arrested in a bush on the Epinnmi-Eporo road.

The suspects were alleged to have used explosives to gain entrance into the bank before carting away an undisclosed amount of money.

Magaji said six assault rifles, five AK 47 rifles, one AK 49, 12 empty magazines and 30 rounds of 7.22 mm ammunition were recovered from the suspects.

He also said that the police had recovered a Toyota Avalon car with registration Number BH 473 EKY and N59,950 cash from the suspects.

Magaji said the police were still combing the area for other members of the gang who escaped.

He gave assurance that the police were fully prepared to combat crime in the state, particularly as the Christmas and New Year were approaching.

The suspects, who spoke to journalists, however, denied the police claim, saying that they were working on their farms when they were arrested.

They also claimed to have stumbled on “a heap of money” on the farm which they and other farmers around shared.

One of them said he was employed as a labourer in one of the farms, to enable him raise money to pay his school fees when he was arrested.

NAN recalls that when the bank was attacked on 6 October two policemen were killed and N1 million carted away by the robbers.

Meanwhile, the police in Rivers have vowed to smash the robbery gang that killed two of their officers and wounded two others in a daring robbery operation on 31 October.

Ben Ugwuegbulam, the spokesman for the command, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Port Harcourt that the police had launched a full scale investigation into the incident.

“Nobody kills our men and go free. We are on it,” he said.

The policemen were escorting money from Every Day Emperium in Rumuola to Every Day Super Market in Government Reservation Area (GRA), Port Harcourt, when the robbers struck.

A source told NAN that the robbers succeeded in blocking the vehicle conveying the money and that when the driver tried to reverse, members of the gang who were in a jeep opened fire on the police escorts.

The source added that the gang transferred the money into their jeep and zoomed off.

NAN gathered that one of the officers killed, a lady, who was described as the only daughter of the family, resumed from her annual leave on the day she was gunned down by the hoodlums.

“The other police officer, who also died in the robbery operation, had planned to marry his heart throb before Christmas,” the source said.

NAN gathered that one of the wounded policemen has died, but Ugwuegbulam could not confirm the report as the time of going to press.