Posted by By DIPO KEHINDE, PHILIP NWOSU and JULIANA FRANCIS on
Lagos, Nigeria's economic honeypot, saw a war scenario Wednesday, as policemen battled 16 bandits who stormed the Ajah area in army uniform, a Navy boat and a Toyota Hiace bus.
Lagos, Nigeria's economic honeypot, saw a war scenario Wednesday, as policemen battled 16 bandits who stormed the Ajah area in army uniform, a Navy boat and a Toyota Hiace bus.
The battle, which left a security guard and one of the robbers dead, started as the dare-devils attempted to rob the Ajah branch of a commercial bank at about 10.30 am. The gang met a surprise attack from four police guards at the bank, who had initially taken cover when they noticed suspicious movements from the uniformed men, who arrived the bank in the Toyota Hiace bus.
Apparently sensing that the police guards were ready for them, the robbers took off. The police pursued them from Ajah, towards Epe and then to the Obadore area on the outskirts of Lagos were they escaped with a waiting boat.
To execute the battle, the police moved two armoured cars to the area, with additional squad from the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti Yaba and Mobile Police Force Units 20, 21 and 22. The Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of zone 2, Mr Israel Ajao and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Ade Ajakaiye joined their men on the battle field.
Police spokesman, Mr Olubode Ojajuni, said: 'Four mobile policemen attached to the bank had seen the 16 men in army uniform, when they arrived. They became suspicious and they positioned themselves in strategic places.
'Before the robbers entered the banking hall, they left 10 of their men outside the bank as they went in with six men. They held people in the bank captive, that was when the mobile policemen opened fire from their hideouts.
'Our men were shooting from obscure positions and the robbers couldn't tell where the shots were coming from. They became jittery and began to shoot in a bid to escape. But we shot one of them dead. The security man, who the robbers gunned down, was said to have called one of them that he recognised."
Having abandoned their bus, the robbers were said to have hijacked another bus, which they dove to the riverside, where a boat was waiting for them.
There was a similar bank robbery in the area earlier in the year, when bandits dressed in Navy uniform escaped in a boat after the raid during which two policemen were killed.
Reacting to the allegation that a Navy boat was used by the robbers, Lt. Commander Folorunsho Ajibulu, who spoke for the Navy, told Daily Sun that the Navy heard about the robbery. He argued that none of their boats was used in the attack.
He pointed out that the Navy had only assisted the police when officers at the Area 'B" Command called for assistance.