Two members of an armed robbery syndicate were shot dead in the early hours of Wednesday, January 3, 2021, while one other was arrested by operatives of Ogun State Police Command.
Thenewsbearer learnt that armed robbery gang had invaded an electronics and phone warehouse, known as Fastlink, in Ijebu-Ode.
Disclosing the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said that the police encounter with the suspected armed robbers came after the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Igbeba Division, CSP Doga Najeem, got a distress call from a local vigilante leader, that the warehouse situated at Oyingbo area of the town had been invaded by robbers who were armed with weapons.
The PPRO said that the call made the DPO to mobilize his patrol team, in collaboration with So-Safe Corps, and moved to the scene.
“On sighting the policemen, the robbers engaged them in a gun battle for about an hour, at the end of which two members of the gang were fatally shot and one arrested.
“Others escaped in their standby vehicle, with various degrees of gunshot injuries,” Oyeyemi stated.
When interrogated, the arrested suspect, who gave his name as Isiaka Yakubu (28), an indigene of Yauri in Zamfara State, disclosed that the gang members were eight in number.
Yakubu confessed that the gang came from Lagos State, where they hid for some days before coming to Ijebu-Ode for the robbery operation.
A locally-made gun, an iron cutter, two cutlasses, one iron chisel, phones and electrical materials worth N6 million, which they looted from the warehouse, were recovered from the suspects, the PPRO stated further.
Commending his men for their swift response to tackle the suspects, the state Commissioner of police, Edward A. Ajogun ordered the immediate transfer of the case to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for discreet investigation.
Also issuing a directive for manhunt of the fleeing members of the gang,
Ajogun appealed to members of the public, especially hospitals, to report anyone seen with gunshot injury to the police.
He also warned criminals to stop testing the power of the Command, as determination and resilience of officers and men to decisively deal with all forms of criminality in the state remain unwavered.
