28th September, 2012
Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt
One Policeman and a suspected armed robber were shot dead in the early hours of today in Port Harcourt, when a police patrol team was ambushed by suspected armed robbers.
Ben Ugwuegbulem,the spokesman for the Rivers State Command said in a statement that the Police anti-robbery patrol team from Nkpolu Police Station ran into the hoodlums at the Olu Obasanjo axis of the state capital after responding to a distress call.The robbers fired at the Police leading to a gun duel.
He also said that the hoodlums who came in three vehicles however escaped and abandoned one of their dead colleagues and one of the vehicles used for robbery
after they were overpowered by the Policemen.
The Police also recovered a rifle abandoned by the fleeing hoodlums.
Ugwuegbulem gave assurance that efforts are on to track down the the suspects.
Last week two anti-riot policemen on foot patrol were shot dead at a pointblank range by Mile One market by unidentified gunmen on a motorbike, despite the ban imposed on the use of the bike four years ago by Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amechi. The ban covers the state capital and three nearby local councils.