Posted by By Tunde Lemuel, Wole Adeboye & Emmanuel Osodi on
While Lagosians were still mourning the death of a pregnant bank manager killed during a daring raid by robbers on a new generation bank at Alapere, Ketu, another gang of robbers, yesterday struck at Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island, where they attacked a customer coming out of an old generation bank with huge sum of money.
While Lagosians were still mourning the death of a pregnant bank manager killed during a daring raid by robbers on a new generation bank at Alapere, Ketu, another gang of robbers, yesterday struck at Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island, where they attacked a customer coming out of an old generation bank with huge sum of money.
But unlike the Alapere robbers who escaped with their loot, the Victoria Island robbers were overpowered by the police. Narrating the incident to P.M.News, the victim (names withheld) revealed: 'I left office for First Bank but they didn't open on the excuse that robbers were raiding somewhere. So, I went to another bank to withdraw my money. As I stepped out of the bank, a man accosted me with a gun and took the money. He immediately mounted a waiting commercial motorcycle (Okada) and rode off. Other motorcyclists pursued them as they went toward Falomo under bridge, where they ran into some mobile policemen who chased them to Onikan roundabout.
'They were hit by a Corolla car and this enabled the mobile policemen to arrest one of them. The one holding the pistol was hit by bullets and the other escaped. Only N173,000 out of the N410,000 that I withdrew, was recovered from him. The other suspect escaped with the rest of the money.'
The state police command later paraded the arrested suspect, identified as Ifeanyi George Ebube, 22. The suspect who was being treated for gunshot wounds, confessed that he was a bank robber and that he and his acccomplice who escaped had earlier surveyed the bank before they struck. He gave his address as 16, Ogungbe Street, Ajegunle.
While the police were parading the suspect, another suspect believed to be his accomplice, identified as Sheriff Oladimeji, 21, was brought in. The police claimed that the suspect was arrested while trying to escape on Okada.
P.M.News gathered that Ifeanyi had earlier identified Sheriff as his accomplice and gave the police his name and phone number. Sheriff, who lives at 5, Muyibi Street, Ajegunle, denied any involvement in the robbery.
Before he was brought to the command, police sources said an x-ray was conducted to determine the wound on his leg. The result of the x-ray, it was gathered, showed that Sheriff had a bullet lodged in his leg. He later admitted that he knew Ifeanyi and that they lived on the same street. Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Marvel Akpoyibo, said everything was being done to contain the onslaught of armed robbers in the state.