Despite the heavy presence of the police and some men of the Nigerian Army and Nigerian Navy, the notorious armed robbery gang terrorising the Ikorodu area of Lagos struck again on Wednesday, and succeeded in robbing two banks.
After holding the Ebute Road, at the Ogolonto area of Ikorodu hostage
for about an hour, and robbing two second generation banks, the armed
robbery gang escaped. Numbering about 10, the heavily armed gang was said to have executed
their act in a Gestapo-type operation that saw them cover their targets
successfully, aiding their escape.
To watch the Robbery operations captured on CCTV, click links below or paste on your browser;
To watch the Robbery operations captured on CCTV, click links below or paste on your browser;
The attack came exactly three weeks after the armed gang invaded
Ikorodu and robbed the First Bank and Wema Bank branches in the
neighbourhood, killing two people in the process. How the robbers succeeded in storming the area Wednesday and robbing
the banks of yet-to-be specified amount remains a mystery, going by the
fact that the banks are opposite a police station.
Although the policemen from the Ebute Ipakodo police station were on
duty, the armed gang held the entire area hostage unchallenged. Information made available to THISDAY indicated that the police were
allegedly aware of the plan to attack some banks by the same robbery
gang terrorising the area.
A top police official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said
after the robbers struck three weeks ago, they (the police) had
succeeded in infiltrating the gang and may have been aware that they
planned to strike again. The source said that there were already plans to move in and arrest the
suspects when they launched yet another attack on the two banks on
Wednesday.
The source said: “After the first attack, which was quite devastating,
the men of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) were detailed to
investigate the matter and unearth them.
“True to type, they made great inroads into arresting them because of
the insider information they were ferreting from a source.
“What we knew was that after the attack, this set of armed robbers
usually escape by boats to their hideout in the swamps and thistles of
Ikorodu.
“From the information at our disposal, we knew they were planning to
strike but did not know when. Our plan was that we would arrest them
before they did so, but unfortunately they struck again before we could
act.”
Wednesday’s robbery attack, which began at 8.30 am, saw the heavily armed men storm the bank in their getaway vehicle.
According to an eyewitness report, the gang had tacitly trailed a bullion van carrying money to the bank and robbed it before moving on to the second bank. The gang attempted to enter the second bank through the thick glass metal detector door but was repelled by the private security men who locked it from inside.
When attempts to break into one of the metal detector doors proved difficult, they shot their way through a second one. In a fit of rage, they not only shot and cut through the metal
detector, they also tore down the windbreaker affixed atop the door and
also the wires connecting the alarm system.
After robbing the bank and its customers, their attempt to flee was
impeded by the presence of the police from the Rapid Response Squad
(RRS) and the Ipakodo police station who had arrived at the scene of the
robbery. Thus, a gun duel ensued between the police and the gang, which lasted for over 30 minutes before the gang fled the scene.
The gang was said to have escaped through the lagoon with their loot
intact and sped off in high-speed boats through the many canals that dot
the Ikorodu area. As at press time, business activities were gradually resuming in the area although banks remained closed to customers.
Expectedly, the incident worsened the traffic situation in an otherwise traffic-prone area, stretching into kilometres.
The South-west Zonal Public Relations Officer of the National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA), Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, said the gang was able
to escape because they used speed boats.
He said: “When we got the alert about the armed robbery attack and
their plans to escape in their speed boats, we alerted the marine
police.
“The marine police immediately deployed three speed boats but they
didn't catch them, as they had already disappeared through the many
canals in the lagoon.”
When contacted, the Lagos State Police Spokesperson, Kenneth Nwosu, a
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed the attack, but said no
casualty was recorded. But despite the police’s inability to arrest the robbers, they were, in
an unrelated incident, unusually prompt at arresting a civilian who
attempted to take a photograph of a policeman receiving a bribe from a
commercial bus driver in the Okota area of Lagos State.
The victim, Ntiedo Thompson, was arrested and detained at the Okota
Police station for daring to take a photo shot of the policeman
receiving the bribe. The Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Solomon Arase, had warned
policemen on several occasions against demanding or accepting bribes
from motorists.
Thompson, who was detained for some hours and his two phones held in
custody overnight, only succeeded in recovering them yesterday after the
intervention of a human rights activist. Although the policemen had initially claimed that the DPO, CSP James
Chu, had ordered them to arrest and detain Thompson, it turned out that
Chu was not even aware of the incident.
While narrating his ordeal, Thompson said: “I was in a commercial bus
when we got to the Okota area, one of the policemen on the road was
demanding that our driver give him a bribe.
"I brought out my phone to capture him and they saw me. They dragged me
out of the bus and seized the phone I used to take the pictures.
“He said I was placed under arrest but I begged that they should
release me, and suggested that they could delete the pictures and return
my phone to me, but they refused.
“The next thing, they called the station and a patrol van appeared and
they demanded that I boarded the patrol van because the DPO wanted to
see me.
“When we got there, they didn't take me to meet the DPO neither did they release me. I was there from 6 pm to 9 pm.
“Afterwards, they asked me to go home and report back by 9am the
following day (yesterday). But before I was released, I had to call one
of my brothers with my second phone to come and bail me.
“Meanwhile, before I left that night, they also seized the second phone from me and I went home without any phone on me.
“I got there yesterday by 9 am and waited till 2.40 pm before my second
phone was released. This was after a human rights activist intervened
and asked them to let me go.
“Even at that, the policeman handling my case went to Ikeja to submit
my report and so I had to wait till he got back for him to release my
phones.”
Although his bail bond was signed by his brother, and he was released
on bail, he said his brother was compelled to also pay some money to
perfect the bail bond.
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