23rd October, 2012
Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt
Two suspected armed robbers were shot dead today on Ada-George Road in the Nigerian oil-rich city of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
According to a Deputy Commissioner of Police ,Thomas Etomi of the Rivers State Police, the suspects were among a four-man robbery gang operating in a black Toyota Corolla salon car with registration number BGM- 896A to rob a commercial bank near Agip Junction in the city.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police ,Thomas Etomi while displaying the the bodies of the robbers at the Police Headquarters Moscow Road,Port Harcourt said, the hoodlums were spotted when a team of policemen on routine monitoring of banks’ at Ada-George Road sighted their car with four male occupants near the bank premises.
Etomi explained that as the police accosted the suspected hoodlums for checks, the two dead victims immediately opened fire on them prompting a serious gun battle with the police which resulted in shooting the two armed hoodlums while the driver of the car and one other person escaped.
Etomi said; “Our men who were on routine monitoring of banks’ premises in Port Harcourt sighted a dark Toyota Corolla car in front of a new generation bank along Ada-George Road. The team suspected that the four occupants of the vehicle may be armed robbers. So, the policemen stopped their patrol van to find out who the occupants were, only for the driver of the vehicle to zoom off. The police gave a hot chase which resulted in a shoot-out. At the end, two of the suspected armed men were fatally wounded while two others escaped.”
Etomi warned that Rivers Police is poised to make the state unsafe for criminals as the command is fully equipped to perform their constitutional role of protecting lives and property of law abiding citizens.
Etomi however assured that the command has intensified effort to arrest the fleeing members of the gang.
Items recovered from the hoodlums apart from the car are two AK-47 rifles, and two fully-loaded magazines.