Riot-As Policemen And Robbers Engage In Gun Battle

Riot took a turn between police and a gang of armed robbers in abeokuta the capital of ogun state...

Robbery suspects had stormed Abeokuta through the Adigbe-Obada-Oko route from the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway in a convoy of two vehicles – an unregistered white Ford bus and another unmarked sports car.

It was learnt that some residents alerted the police command to the presence of the robbers. The command sent its officers to search for them.

Riot policemen attached to the Armoured Personnel Carrier stationed at the Ibara area of the metropolis gave the gang of robbers a hot chase and eventually engaged them in a gun battle.

It was learnt that the robbers fled after a few minutes on seeing that a bullet had pierced one of the tyres of the Ford vehicle. The policemen, however, gave them a chase.

As the robbers and the policemen moved round the city exchanging fire, some of the residents fled the main roads, while some shop owners abandoned their wares.

Confusion sets in as residents ran for their lives, as people threw stones at vehicle in total state of disarray.

The vehicle later stopped moving when it got to a school at the Pepsi Cola/Agbeloba area of the metropolis, which had been cordoned off by another set of policemen.

While some of the robbery suspects escaped in the sport’s car,  the policemen arrested one occupant of the unmarked white Ford bus.

The state command Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, who later arrived at the scene of the arrest, commended the policemen involved in chasing the suspected robbers.

He said, “This is just the tip of the iceberg. The men came here to operate; we got information and our mobile policemen gave them a hot chase. We were able to get two of the suspected armed robbers, while some of them fled.”

He added that the policemen could have shot and killed some of the fleeing robbery suspects, but hesitated because the incident occurred in a school environment, where students were around to collect their report cards.

He said, “We have informed other neighbouring commands to be on the lookout so that they can arrest them.”

But some of the robbers were let injured during the gun battle as no arrest was made.