The fulfillment of the assurance given by police authorities to arrest the perpetrators of the robbery incident that cut short the lives of three policemen and three others in Lekki area of Lagos last Thursday, though may serve as a form of succour to many Nigerians, the bereaved families, particularly that of Inspector Bethel, indigene of Kwale in Delta State and father of seven, will certainly need more to survive the tragedy that hit them.
Two other policemen identified as Sergeant George, an Urhobo also from Delta State and Corporal Ikechukwu, a Benin man from Edo State.
Six persons including three mobile policemen were killed and several others seriously injured during the incident which happened on Lekki-Ikoyi Link bridge when the rampaging armed robbers attacked a new generation bank.
Security sources told Sunday Sun that the three policemen were on the escort of some expatriates from Victoria Island to the international airport in Ikeja when they ran into the bandits who had stormed the bank for robbery operation.
Sunday Sun reliably gathered that the escort team decided to follow the Lekki-Ikoyi link bridge because of the usual heavy traffic on Ozumba Mbadiwe way with the lead
driver who carried the foreigners
on a Coaster bus leading the way.
The team, it was learnt, ran into two robbers who were in army camouflage uniform. They were brandishing a submachine gun, which a source said uses ten magazines and an AK47 rifle which uses double magazines.
The driver who had no inkling of the danger lurking around was said to have continued with the journey without taking any precautions. “When the entourage got to the second army check point, which was around the FCMB bank being robbed at the time, there were many men in camouflage on standby as if waiting for someone.
“They allowed the Coaster bus to pass but immediately opened fire on the right side of the Hilux Van conveying the police inspector, a Sergeant and a Corporal. The Police inspector who was the leader of the escort and the corporal who sat directly behind him were hit by bullets and died instantly.
“Then the first two men in camouflage left behind began to shoot at the Hilux Van. The driver who is a civilian stopped the vehicle, switched off the engine, got down of the truck, raised his hands and ran for his dear life. The Sergeant on the other hand realizing he had been over powered, got down from the truck without his ammunition with his hands raised in the air and attempted to run away from the vehicle. But the robbers opened rapid fire on him till they were sure he was dead,” the source revealed.
Sunday Sun further learnt that the Coaster bus driver who saw another check point ahead of him was quick to realize that the area was too hostile and decided to slow down.
“One of the robbers fired at the bus but at that point, two things happened simultaneously. The driver of the Coaster bus stopped while a girl selling smoked fish who was running for her life was hit by a bullet in her forehead which came out through the back and damaged the right side of her head. She fell down in front of the Coaster bus and died instantly. Another civilian was hit by a stray bullet.
Meanwhile, the robbery inside the bank was said they have been carried out quickly without any resistance. “People didn’t know of it because they felt the men in army camouflage were there to secure the area
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