Robbers kill police, injure one in exchange of gunfire

[Richard Akindele]

Some suspected armed bandits on Friday night unleashed terror on policemen as they shot an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) to death in a gun duel at Yemetu Igosun in Ibadan metropolis, Oyo State.

A local newspaper gathered that another policeman said to be part of the patrol team was also shot and now lying critically ill at the Intensive Unit of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.

It was learnt that the residents of Igosun raised an alarm that some daredevil armed robbers had invaded their area. The police as an eye witness narrated, promptly responded to the call.

Our correspondent learnt that the bandits, on sighting the police patrol team reportedly opened fire at the team during which the ASP was shot dead. The bandits immediately took to their heels before the police could reinforce their men. According to the police source, the bandits were said to have been terrorising the people of Yemetu- Igosun areas of the state in the past few months.

Further investigations also revealed that the killed ASP was attached to the Special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS), Dugbe, ar ea Ibadan.
Speaking on the incident, Oyo State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Babatunde Sodimu confirmed the story, saying men of the state Police Command would never succumb to the threats of men of the underworld “ because we are up to the task�.

It would be recalled that men of the Oyo State Police Command SARS unit last week killed a suspected serial killer at Academy area of Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
In another development, the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Jonathan Johnson, yesterday, warned men of the state police command to stop extorting money through illegal check-points on most of the roads in the state.

Mr Johnson who handed down the warning in Ibadan during a chat with journalists at the police headquarters, Eleyele disclosed that “the state police command is to start monitoring activities of men of the command through video cameras to be purchased by the command� stressing that this would serve as a major evidence against any police officer or men found extorting money from motorists.

Source: Sunday Vanguard