COMMISSIONER of Police in Osun State, Mr. Kola Sodipo, yesterday confirmed that the armed robbers that attacked branches of First Bank, Skye Bank and Union Bank in Ikirun, Osun State at the weekend killed two policemen and two bankers before they were overpowered. Four of the robbers were killed.
At a press conference in Osogbo, the police commissioner said four members of the robbery gang, Aderibigbe Oluwaseun, Ndubisi David, Ayuba Abubaka Saliu and Nuhu Jimoh, were arrested and three AK47 rifles with one hundred and twenty four rounds of live ammunition were recovered from them.
According to him, the police responded promptly to distress calls from the banks and exhibited gallantry and professional expertise in combating the armed robbers who were armed with sophisticated weapons and improvised explosive devices.
The police boss also disclosed that seven million, four hundred and eighty-six thousand, three hundred naira (N7,486,300) and a Nissan Sunny car that the robbers used for the operation were recovered from the suspects after their arrest.
He said that the Armoured Personnel Carrier provided for the police in Osun helped the policemen to overpower the armed robbers. He said full scale investigation into the incident has commenced and that the fleeing members of the robbery gang would be apprehended
Two policemen, two bank officials and six passers-by reportedly died in a gun duel between the bandits and the police.
It was gathered that the robbers suspected to be indigenes of Kogi and Benue States had been in Osun State through their informants before eventually launching the attack around 4.00 pm on Friday on the two banks along Ekoeinde road in Ikirun, the headquarters of Ifelodun local government area.
It was further gathered that the bandits successfully overpowered the police in Ikirun and blocked the team from gaining access to the robbery area to dislodge them.
But the DPO from Iragbiji was said to have sprung a surprise when he led a team of police with an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) to engage the armed bandits in a gun exchange for about thirty minutes before reinforcements came from Osogbo.
A source said the DPO operated the APC and used it to demobilise the operational vehicle of the armed robbers.
He reportedly killed three of them and foiled the operation.
Police Commissioner, Kola Sodipo, said that two members of the gang were arrested.
Police Public Relations Officer in Osun State, Mrs. Folashade Odoro, explained that the robbers attacked the banks with dynamites and placed explosives in strategic locations in the area where the banks are located.
She, however, said the police anti-bomb squad was able to identify the explosives and successfully diffuse them.