An unspecified amount of cash was carted away by armed men on Thursday, February 10, 2022, as they attacked a bullion van and shot dead two policemen escorting it in the Idi Ape area of Ibadan, Oyo State.
Also killed were a commercial motorcyclist and another civilian, while two policemen and two civilians sustained gunshot injuries.
A police inspector, however, escaped death by the whiskers.
It was gathered from credible sources that the armed men, numbering about 10 and wielding AK-47 rifles, were dressed in military camouflage and donned bulletproof and nose masks, prowling the area they chose for the operation and making people believe that they were security agents.
It was further gathered that the bullion van, belonging to a new generation bank (names withheld), had left its branch in the city with five policemen as escorts to dispense cash at another location in the Challenge area.
After leaving Challenge, the bullion van proceeded to Iwo Road to carry out the same assignment and was believed to be en route to another branch when the incident occurred.
The sources said that the bullion van driver passed through the traffic light at Idi Ape junction and was on the fast lane on Idi-Ape-Agodi Gate road at the point of turning towards Carlton Gate Hotel when the armed men suddenly used a Toyota Highlander SUV, being driven by a man, to block the van, simultaneously shooting sporadically and hitting the Highlander driver in the hand.
They were said to have moved their operational vehicle, an ash-colored Toyota Sienna van, to block the van further, pumping bullets into its windscreen, bonnet, tyres and side doors.
Thereafter, they forced open the doors, trying to gain access to the back where the cash was kept.
They reportedly abandoned the interior of the van and went to the back, where they used axes to break the padlock securing it, after which they started packing the cash inside.
The sources further stated that the sergeant who was killed at the spot was in a white back-up van and was about to step out to confront the armed robbers when he was shot at close range, dying instantly.
While two out of the three other policemen who also sustained gunshot injuries were rushed to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, one later died. In contrast, the third policeman was taken to a private hospital.
It was further learnt that when a distress call was made to Agodi Division, attempts by police operatives to pass through the road to the spot of the incident proved abortive, as a gridlock had been created by commuters who abandoned their vehicles and fled to safety.
The operatives, led by the Divisional Police Officer, were said to have made their way through a footpath that was a considerable distance from the spot.
But the law enforcement agents were able to kill one of the armed robbers, the command’s Police Public Relations Officer, SP Adewale Osifeso, had said, while some were believed to have escaped with multiple gunshot injuries.
Osifeso also confirmed the death of the two policemen but said two others and two civilians were responding to treatment in the hospital.
The PPRO enjoined members of the public not to panic, saying that the police were on the trail of the criminals and efforts were being made to track and apprehend them.
He appealed for the provision of credible information needed to bring the perpetrators of the crime to book.
