Another bank tragedy as two policemen, man killed in Ondo bank raid

Nigeria - A gang of  fifteen dare devil armed robbers  attacked a branch of the Skye Bank Plc in Ifon, the headquarters of the Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State, killing two policemen attached to the bank and went away with huge amount of money running into millions.

The incident which also left several persons injured occurred at about 3pm and lasted for  almost an hour on Thursday.

It is understood that social and commercial activities  were halted  as  residents living close to the bank ran helter skelter for safety . 

According to an eyewitness, the hoodlums numbering fifteen stormed the premises of the bank at about 3pm when the bank had already stop transaction with customers and blew up the front door entrance with   dynamite before gaining entrance.

The robbers  who were said to have stormed the bank in a conyoy of three vehicles  forced their way to the vault and emptied it before  engaging  the policemen in a gun duel outside the bank

It was  gathered that stray bullets of the hodlums  also killed a yet to be identified man at a medical clinic beside the bank.

The eyewitness said, “ They came in three vehicles , armed to the teeth . When they got to the bank they could not enter easily because the bank had stopped  attending to  customers. So they had to blow the door up with dynamite.

“ For several miniutes , they were shooting everywhere, two of the policemen that engaged them were killed but none of the robbers was killed during the shooting.”

Another source said it was when more policemen were deployed in the scene and engaged the robbers in shooting that the bandits later fled.

Ondo state command spokesman,   Mr. Femi Joseph confirmed the incident and said the command deployed more officers and men to the scene while another team lead by the state commissioner of Police, Mr. Gbenga Adeyanju went to the scene immediately after receiving the information.

He said, “ It is unfortunate that we lost two of our men in the incident, but we are still on the trail of the robbers, they went to the bank with sophisticated weapon and inspite of that our men still engaged them.

“  The CP himself led the team from Akure to the scene it was when they (robbers) knew that we were closing in on the them that they ran away with bullets wounds. We shall get them soonest because our men are still on their trail.”