The Kogi State Command of the Nigeria Police Force says it recovered three of the vehicles used in bank robberies in the Ankpa region of the state on Tuesday.
SaharaReporters had reported that robbers armed with sophisticated weapons on Tuesday raided banks in the Ankpa Local Government Area of the state.
The robbers stormed the community and operated for close to an hour unchallenged.
The fleeing armed men were said to have abandoned the three vehicles at the scene of the crime.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that the robbers raided multiple banks in the state and arrived in the affected community in several buses, cars and motorbikes.
Operatives of the police and other security agencies were said to have fled the scene due to the firepower of the sophisticated weapons of the robbers.
SaharaReporters, however, learnt that the robbers arrived in several cars including buses.
“Others were on motorbikes,” a source had said.
“After robbing banks for about an hour, they drove violently but steadily out of Ankpa with unending gunshots.
“They left through Okpo road, but no one knows their destination as the shots were too heavy. Most Ankpa residents are still hiding as they do not know if the attack has ended.”
Meanwhile, a statement released on Wednesday by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, SP William Aya, said “consequent upon the robbery attack on the United Bank for Africa, First bank and Zenith Bank Ankpa simultaneously, the Commissioner of Police, Edward Egbuka, immediately led a team of tactical operatives to the scenes for an on-the-spot assessment.”
According to him, the police officers on duty at both the station and the banks recovered fast from the unexpected onslaught and resisted the attackers, who were forced to flee in bushes and their vehicles.
Aya reported that the hoodlums abandoned three vehicles used for the operation as they fled. He added that some of the robbers also sustained gunshot wounds.
He expressed hope that the abandoned vehicles will aid the police in their investigation of the incident.
He added that the state police commissioner had directed that additional mobile police personnel, operational assets, Counter Terrorism Unit, Quick Response Unit, and State Intelligence Bureau should be deployed to restore peace in the affected community.
He noted that the police commissioner also urged residents of Ankpa and the adjoining communities to be on the lookout for anyone with gunshot wounds and report to the police.
There have been a series of bank robberies in Kogi, mostly deadly.
In December 2021, some armed killed four civilians, a police officer and a bank security guard during an operation that lasted about an hour, leaving residents to scamper to safety. The robbers attacked banks in Egbe and Odo Ere communities in the Yagba West Local Council of Kogi.
Also in June 2020, at least eight police officers were killed while others were injured when robbers attacked a bank in Isanlu town, in the Yagba East local government area of the state.
According to reports, the robbers who were said to be armed with AK47s and dynamites were more than 20 in number.
sahara reports
