FOR more than one hour, social and economic activities were totally grounded in Akure, the Ondo State capital, as a group of dare-devil armed robbers laid siege on the metropolis leaving deaths and anguish in their trail.
At least four persons, one of them a private security guard, were shot dead by the robbers as they forcefully gained entry into the hall of a new generation bank located at Ondo Bye-Pass, while several other persons were injured.
Fully armed, the robbers got to the bank at about 1 pm and shot their way in, causing a lot of melee. They ordered everybody to lie face-down while some of them started collecting money from customers and the bank cashiers.
However, attempts to cart away money from the bank’s vault were foiled as the robbers could not gain entry.
Driving a black Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) from the inside of which they shot sporadically into the air to scare people away from the deserted streets. The robbers spent over 40 minutes trying to find an escape route.
Spokesman of the Ondo Police Command, Adeniran Aremu, said the quick intervention of the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), “prevented the total haulage of all the money in the bank’s vault as we arrived early enough to give them a hot chase.”
Three persons said to be suspected members of the gang were later paraded by the state Police Commissioner, Sanni Mogaji at the police headquarters.
Mogaji, who was quoted last week as saying Ondo State had the lowest crime rate in the South West, said interrogation to reveal the complicity of the arrested suspects had begun.