Highway armed robber shot dead, other injured colleagues flee

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NIGERIA: BARELY few days to the joyous Christmas, an armed bandit – in company of his gang – was shot dead by policemen in Ogun State, while some of his injured colleagues narrowly escaped being apprehended.

The robbers were operating on the Ijebu-Ode/Benin Expressway on Tuesday, around 11pm, when the police Anti-Crime Patrol Team attached to Ogbere Division of the Ogun Command, descended on them.
The command Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, who told journalists on Wednesday that the armed men were already robbing passengers along the Ajede area near J3, along Ijebu Ode/Benin expressway, when the policemen received a distress call.

“The Anti-Crime patrol team was responding to a distress call that the hoodlums had blocked the road with one Toyota Bus with Reg. No NND 529 XA, which had earlier been snatched by the robbers, while they asked the commuters to lie down with a view to robbing them but the robbers were engaged by the police team, which arrived the scene on time, in a fierce gun duel,” the police image maker said.

Adejobi, a Superintendent of Police, explained: “The gun duel left one of the robbers dead as a result of superior fire power of the police.

“After the operation, the commuters were all rescued unhurt and all their belongings were intact. When a search was conducted on the dead robber, a cutlass, five life cartridges and assorted charms were recovered from him.”

He further said: “It would be recalled that the Inspector General of police Solomon Arase recently launched Operation Safer Highway with the distribution of more than 600 patrol vans and logistics to all commands and formations of the police for adequate protection of lives and property of road users all over the country.
“Similarly, Ogun State Command has deployed more than 40 patrol vans along all the highways in the state, while the efforts of the command to protect lives and property of road users within the state have paid off as many highway robbery operations have been thwarted while many suspected robbers arrested.”
The police image maker further said that the state Commissioner of Police, Abdulamajid Ali, also had prior promised the general public of adequate security in the state, particularly during the Yuletide.

According to him, the police boss, similarly, appealed to the public, particularly the medical practitioners, to be watchful of anyone with bullet wounds and to promptly alert the police.