Gunmen invade police station in Edo, kill 2 officers, loot armoury

Hell was let lose Monday night at Igueben, Edo state, when dare-devil gunmen suspected to be armed robbers invaded the divisional police headquarters in the town.

Two policemen were feared killed, others injured while a huge cache of arms and ammunition were carted away by the criminals.

The state police command however said that no policeman was killed in the incident.

But sources who spoke in condition of anonymity, gave the names of police officers who lost their lives in the attack as Inspector Monday Asoata and Corporal Esangbedo Ezekiel.

The sources added that their bodies had already been deposited in an undisclosed morgue in the area, while the injured policemen are currently receiving treatment.

Other sources at Igueben who also spoke to journalists in Benin on phone, disclosed that the hoodlums arrived at the police stations around 8 pm.

The sources added that the hoodlums blew dynamite and shot sporadically to gain access to the police station, went straight tot the armory where they stole all the arms and ammunition they could lay their hands on.

Shortly after the incident, residents of Igueben were said to have trooped to the streets in protest.

The attack came less than 24 hours after the state police commissioner, Johnson Babatunde Kokumo, issued a seven-day ultimatum to those who looted arms and ammunition at police stations during the #EndSARS protests in Benin, the state capital, to return them.

Confirming the incident to journalists on the phone, the state police command spokesman, SP Chidi Nwabuzor, said normalcy has since returned to the station.

According to him, “On November 9, 2020, at about 19.30hrs, hoodlums suspected to be armed robbers, invaded the police station at Igueben. Immediately, the police personnel mobilised to repel them.

“During gun duel, one of the suspected armed robbers was shot dead, two policemen were wounded and they were taken to the hospital.

“One motorcycle, suspected to belonging to the robbers was confiscated by the police. No policeman was killed in the attack.

“The police are doing their best to weed out criminal elements in that axis of the state. As I speak, normalcy has returned to that part of Edo.”