Robbers Raid Banks, Cart Away Cash

Robbers numbering about six stormed the Sapida Microfinance bank, Ijebu Imusin in Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun state, Southwest, Nigeria and carted away undisclosed amount of money Wednesday afternoon.

Two persons were hit by stray bullets fired by the armed robbers who were shooting sporadically to scare people from attacking them.

The two victims were taken to an undisclosed hospital for medical treatment.

A source in the bank who pleaded not to be named confirmed the incident to our correspondent, added that the robbers could not gain entrance into their strong room.

According to the source,”the robbers came into our bank some minutes ago and we were all asked to lie down and face the ground, they carted away a lot of money. We had a lot of customers that came to deposit money today and most of them were victims of the attack.

“The robbers tried all their efforts to gain entrance into our strong room, but could not.”

The source further revealed that the police did not show up throughout the 45 minutes that the robbers operated despite distress call put across to them.

Efforts to speak with the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Microfinance Bank, Mr Lukman Ademola Oyebamiji proved abortive as he could not be reached when our correspondent put calls through to his mobile phone.

In a similar vein, armed robbers invaded the WEMA bank in Ijebu Igbo few minutes after the Ijebu Imusin incident this afternoon.

The bank, which is the only one operating in Ijebu Igbo for the past one year, is situated at Station in Ijebu Igbo, Ijebu North local government council area of the state.

An eyewitness account reported that the robbers who were four in number came with sophisticated weapons like dynamites, AK47 rifles, pistols and axes. It was gathered that the robbers destroyed the entrance door to the bank before gaining entrance into the banking hall.

Our correspondent gathered that the robbers who were shouting, ‘dare us, dare us’ took over all entry points into the bank, forcing all the people at the popular Station motor park in the town to flee for their lives.

It was further gathered that an undisclosed amount of money was also carted away by the robbers during the operation which, according to an impeccable source, lasted for 35 minutes.

The robbers later fled through Oke Agbo road to Atan road linking Ijebu Ode as they were freely moving and were shooting to disperse some youths who were planning to block them at the end of Oke Agbo road.

When our correspondent contacted the police to confirm the incident, a police source told P.M.NEWS that the robbery incidents were successfully carried out because affected banks did not inform them.

“We just heard that armed robbers invaded banks in Ijebu Imusin and Ijebu Igbo. Nobody called our boss here,” the police source hinted.

—Abiodun Onafuye, Abeokuta