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Bank robbers strike again

Posted by By Oluwatoyosi Ogunseye on 2006/06/22 | Views: 559 |

Bank robbers strike again


It was a day of guns in Lagos Wednesday, when policemen squared up to a gang of robbers who killed three persons including a mobile policeman as they attacked a bank in the Ogudu area of the state.

• 3 arrested

It was a day of guns in Lagos Wednesday, when policemen squared up to a gang of robbers who killed three persons including a mobile policeman as they attacked a bank in the Ogudu area of the state.

Police said the bank robbery was foiled and three members of the gang arrested. But they made a shocking discovery that the bus used by the bandits belonged to a Divisional Police Officer, who said he didn't send his driver on such a mission.

Among the 20-man gang that came to the area by sea was a 17-year-old boy, Waheed Okunsowa, who identified himself as the conductor of the bus. The driver was also arrested.

The robbers noticed tight security at a bank they had targetted and therefore moved to another nearby. When security guards at the bank tried to counter the attack, one of them was shot.

The Chief Security Officer (CSO) of the bank was also shot in the shoulder but missed death by the whiskers.
Speaking with Daily Sun, a top police boss, who pleaded anonymity said surveillance had been mounted in Lagos since Tuesday night, when information got to the police that a bank robbery was being planned.
He said: 'When the marine police sighted them on Tuesday night, they alerted us about their presence. The marine police identified them to be the same robbers that raided a bank at Ikorodu last year. We radioed all the police divisions because we did not know when they were going to strike.

'Around 10 a.m Wednesday morning, policemen from Area H command, Ogudu, heard sporadic gunshots. On getting to the bank, the robbers shot one of the policemen, Corporal Okoro in the mouth and the bullet came out through the back of his head. He died instantly. While trying to escape, they shot another security guard from the nearby Alhaji Amao Street."

When the robbers, who came in a white bus, marked XL 433 JJJ realised that they could not get into the vault of the bank, they started shooting sporadically into cars that were parked along the road.
A resident, who was operating a telephone center said: 'I came to my little kiosk this morning where I sell scratch cards. I was attending to a customer when a bus drove with so much speed past me. They parked in front of the bank and started jumping down.

They were heavily armed with guns. I initially thought they were plain clothes policemen and was looking at them. I just noticed that the security guards quickly locked the gate. One of the robbers shot at him. I ran home immediately."

One of the robbers who died in the shootout with the police was identified as Roy Adams.
Okunsowa said he was forced to follow the gang on the operation.

He said: 'I am the conductor of the bus. But the driver , who I usually work with, did not come to work today. So I worked with Jibola Adekoya, who I usually call ‘Agba'. They collected the bus around 6.30 a.m this morning from the owner, a DPO. We carried some plantain for a woman from Iperu to Lagos. After the delivery, I was sweeping the bus, when Agba told me to leave it because we were going somewhere. We drove to Epe and parked near the river. Suddenly, I saw several men coming out of the water. They changed into police and army uniforms and were carrying guns. I was speechless. I had never seen them before in my life. They were more than 20. They sent me to the back of the bus and we drove to Ogudu.

'When we got to the first bank, they said security was too tight and we moved to the second bank. When they got down, I came down too and started shouting 'Ole Ole'. That was when the police came.
The driver of the bus, Jibola Adekoya, said: 'we are many in the gang and I was chosen to be the driver. This is not our first robbery."


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