Seven persons were feared dead as armed robbers attacked a bullion van at Idi-Ape, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
It was gathered that the incident occurred around 1:30 pm, yesterday and that three policemen and four civilians died in the attack.
The armed robbers were said to have driven in an unmarked Toyota Sienna and were in police uniform. The robbery operation took place very close to the Agodi Area Command of the Nigeria Police Force. There are up to six commercial banks within the vicinity.
The armed robbers, according to witnesses, were three in number and they carried sophisticated weapons. The seven persons were said to have lost their lives to volleys of gunfire.
But the armed robbers were not successful in the operation as they could not hijack the bullion van before they fled. But the impacts of the gunshots were evident on the bullion van.
A visit to the scene revealed that people in the buildings, including law offices, banks, and shops, scampered for safety and many of them prostrated on the floor to ensure that the bullets did not get to them when staccato of gunfire rented the atmosphere of Idi Ape, which is the place where daredevil armed robbers robbed many banks and killed many people in 2008.
The attacked bullion van has been towed to an undisclosed location by security men from Idi-Ape.
Meanwhile, Commissioner of Police in the state, Mrs. Ngozi Onadeko, who visited the scene, said two policemen were shot but did not confirm the death of anybody. She said one of the policemen also killed one of the armed robbers.
“I can tell you for sure that two of my men were shot in the neck. But one of the policemen in the backup vehicle, escorting the bullion van shot dead one of the armed robbers. And funny enough, the armed robbers took away the corpse of the killed one,”
she said.
Onadeko said security agencies, including Amotekun Corps, the police, and the joint security task force of the state, Operation Burst,
“are working hand-in-hand to get the people involved. All the exit points out of Ibadan, even out of Oyo State are under lockdown. You can see security agencies and everybody on the road to ensure that we get to the root of what happened today to arrest the culprits.”
