3 Robbers Killed

Three members of a 7-Man robbery gang, who snatched about N6.5 milion from a UK – based Nigerian in Lekki area of Lagos southwest Nigeria, have been killed by police officers from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS.

The robbers were said to have started trailing their victim on 8 October this year. The UK – based woman (name withheld) was trailed by the robbers from Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital to Ben Eleck Hotel in Ikota, and Lekki Phase One . They robbed the woman of the cash at gun-point two days later.

According to a police source at the SARS office, Ikeja, the robbers also snatched the woman’s Mitsubishi Gallant car with registration number TZ 735 AAA and locked the driver in the boot of the car.

The robbers equally robbed the receptionist and security personnel in the hotel of cash, handsets, ATM cards and other valuable items when they arrived the hotel at about 8:30pm.

On getting to Marwa area in Lekki Phase One, Lagos, the robbers were said to have dumped the driver (name withheld) and zoomed off with the ash colour Mitsubishi Gallant car.

P.M.NEWS learnt that when the driver recovered from the shock of the robbery incident, he reportedly called on of his friends, who in turn contacted the SARS office as well as the company that installed a tracking device in the stolen car.

Abba Kyari, the officer-in-charge SARS in Ikeja , was said to have immediately liaised with the tracking company and the stolen car was traced to Ofada town in Ogun State, southwest Nigeria.

The anti-robbery officers stormed the town and laid ambush for about two hours for the robbers. This paid off when the robbers emerged from their hideout and after a bloody crossfire which lasted for about an hour, the cops killed three of the robbers while the other members of the gang escaped.

When contacted, Samuel Jinadu, Lagos Police spokesman said he had not been officially briefed on the incident.

But a police source at SARS, Ikeja, said though the money the robbers stole was not recovered by the police, the car was recovered and parked at the Police Headquarters in Ikeja.

The anti-robbery police officers from SARS are on a manhunt for other members of the robbery gang, our source said.

—Dedeigbo Ayodeji & Emmanuel Udom