Police Gun Found In Robbery Scene

Twenty four hours after a brutal robbery incident shook Akure, the Ondo State capital to its foundation, Police authorities have recovered one of the guns believed to have been used for the crime. The AK-47 rifle recovered at the scene of crime turned out to be one of the weapons of the force.

The daredevil armed robbers had stormed Akure last Thursday, blew banks with dynamite, killing five people and injuring six others. They operated unhindered for more than one hour despite the fact that the scene of the crime was a stone’s throw to a Police Division station and about a kilometre away from the Area Commander’s office.

The gun, believed to have been abandoned by one of the robbers, has been deposited at the office of the State Anti-Robbery Squad, it was learnt yesterday.

While a Police source said that the rifle was snatched by some robbers from a police constable a day before the violent robbery attacks, the Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO), Mr Adeniran Aremu said that the claim could not be true. He insisted that the rifle that was snatched from a policeman had been recovered at Bolorunduro and had no connection with the Thursday robbery.

Also, there have been conspiracy theories about the suspected lackadaisical attitude of Policemen during the period of the robbery attack.

Some banks shut their doors against their customers in the early hours of yesterday for fear of being caught in another web of robbery.

As early as 8am , many customers who had wanted to transact businesses at various banks were turned back by security personnel attached to the banks.

At about 9:30 am , the crowd had built up at the various banks and some customers were becoming unruly before some senior bank officials appealed for patience and urged the customers to let them watch the security situation a little before the doors could be opened to the public.

The banks opened to the customers around 11.am, when it was obvious that the situation had calmed down in Akure and neighbouring towns.

That almost led to a break down of law and order as an irate mob put one of the corpses of the people killed on top of a car and drove to the police station with the intention of burning the place. The mob was dispersed by heavily armed policemen who had mounted sentry at the place.

But sources told newsmen, Saturday that the perceived lukewarm attitude of the policemen to their responsibility was as a result of the absence of State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Balla Magaji Narasawa, and the Commander of the State Anti Robbery Squad (SARS), Mr. John Mark.

According to a senior police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Commissioner was attending a conference called by the Inspector General of Police in Abuja while Mark was sent to Ore in Odigbo local government area of the state to raid some criminals who had been terrorising the area.

The source said that Mark was directed by the Deputy Commissioner of Police to go to Ore to complement the activities of the anti-crime patrol there and it was when the two of them were out of town that the robbers struck.

A source said that the abandoned gun was snatched from a policeman at a road block, adding that all the Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) in Akure metropolis that were supposed to mobilise their men to the scene fled. While some were hiding in mosques and churches, others went to hospitals on the pretence that they were ill.