How robbers struck at First Bank, Wema at Ikorodu

The heavily armed gang of robbers which attacked two commercial banks at Ikorodu, last Tuesday also overran the Area N Police Command Headquarters and its Police Division, Ijede-Ikorodu area of Lagos State, Vanguard has gathered.

Sources disclosed that robbers who were armed with Ak-47 rifles and were clad in military camouflage, were said to have attacked the police formations at the same time they struck at the banks.

This is coming as the officer in charge of the Special-Anti Robbery Squad, SARS, Ikeja, Sp Abba Kyari, has been redeployed by the Inspector General of Police to Abuja, following petitions sponsored by an NGO allegedly funded by relatives of kidnap and armed robbery suspects currently being held at SARS custody across the country.

Meanwhile, members of the Ikorodu bank robbers numbering about 30, had split themselves into two groups during the operation.

One of the groups were said to have attacked Omitoro branch of First Bank, where they carted away an unspecified amount of money, before proceeding to the Ijede branch of Wema Bank where they also unleashed terror on bank customers and passerby. An unidentified man was also said to have been shot in the process.

The other gang which struck at the Area N Command, was said to have thrown the entire command into disarray.

A police source attached to Area N Command, who spoke with Vanguard on the condition of anonymity, also said the gunmen took the policemen at the area command unawares as they shot indiscriminately.

“ They came in a large number and were shooting randomly. People were running for safety. Even the armed guards at the gate of the area command could not repel the attack. 

‘’The gunmen were armed with Ak- 47 rifles but they took the policemen unaware. They wore military camouflage uniforms.

‘’ It was after they left that we learnt that there was a bank robbery in town. I am sure that they attacked the area command and division because they wanted to prevent any form of police reinforcement during the bank robberies.,” he stated.

Meanwhile, investigations conducted by Vanguard at the Lagos State Police Command Headquarters, Ikeja, have revealed that the robbers who carried out last Monday’s bank robbery and attack on the area command was the same as those who attacked a branch of FCMB Bank at Lekki area of Lagos in March 2015, where three policemen and two civilians were killed.

Though four of the suspects who took part in the Lekki robbery had been arrested by operatives of SARS, Ikeja, led by Sp Abba Kyari, over 30 other members of the gang, which specialized in kidnapping, sea piracy, armed robbery, pipeline vandalism, are still on the prowl.

Vanguard gathered that the gang which had been terrorizing residents of Ikorodu in recent times, was predominantly involved in pipeline vandalism, operating from the creeks of Arepo, Ogun State, but ventured into kidnapping and armed robbery when men of IGP Anti- Pipeline Vandalism Squad halted their operation.

The IGP men, led by an assistant Commissioner of Police, Friday Ibadin, were said to have blocked off all routes aiding the gang in selling off stolen petroleum products from pipelines belonging to the NNPC.

This developments had since resulted in several violent clashes between the IGP men and members of the gang.

In one of those clashes, nine policemen were killed, while three other policemen where also killed in a drive-by shooting at Owutu police station.

The gang has also coordinated several kidnapping and armed robbery activities at Epe, Ajah and Ikorodu areas of Lagos since the IGP men intensified it blockade on their activities.