Robbers invade 3 Petrol Stations, Kill Police Sergeant

Cyriacus Izuekwe

Four dare devil armed robbers invaded Dapsey Petrol station lgando, Lagos state, killed a police officer identified as Sergeant Akor and wounded two others.

P.M EXPRESS reports that the bandits stormed the gas station located at Olowonla bus stop along Igando -lba-LASU Expressway at about 9pm on the ill fated Sunday in a Honda car.

According to one of the victims, who is an army personnel (names withheld), “Those bad boys stormed the petrol station in a commando style in a Honda car. They targeted where I was standing with those police officers near one of the parked petrol tankers, hit us with their car with the intention to crush us. We all fell down and I sustained a wound on my face, and immediately they started shooting indiscriminately and one of the bullets hit my leg while I ran for cover.”

In the midst of the confusion that ensured, the then wounded army officer said that one of the armed police officers who was also hit by the car, lost his rifle to the robbers and escaped with injuries.

The incident which lasted for over an hour took place few meters away from Igando Police Division and was said to have sent serious panic to residents due to the sporadic gun shots by the robbers.

Narrating how Sergeant Akor was killed, another eye witness Mr. Francis Adeleke, who was at the scene of the crime, recounted how the late police officer who was said to have stepped out of the petrol station before the attack, had on sighting the robbers, confronted them without his gun as he was said to have kept his gun behind before going out.

His words: “As the robbers started shooting, the sergeant came out and ran straight to them. They were shooting him but surprisingly, the bullets did not penetrate him and he was shouting ‘ you no fit’ you ‘you no fit'”

The robbers seeing that their bullets could not penetrate the police officer, fled with his rifle they had earlier confiscated, leaving their smashed car behind. But Sergeant Akor against the advice of some eye witnesses and the gas station staff was said to have pursued them to recover the police rifle from them.

However, after about half an hour later, the gas station manager known as Tijani, now in police custody, was said to have led some staff to trail the sergeant. When the search team arrived at ‘O’ Mark bus stop, Adeleke said that the sergeant’s lifeless body was found by the road side just a few poles away from the scene of the crime.

As at press time, his corpse and the robbers’ car were said to have been removed to the mortuary and Igando Police Division respectively, while the wounded officers were said to be recuperating at an undisclosed hospital.

Speaking with the proprietor of the gas station, Mr. Dapo, he confirmed that the resistance of the late police officer prevented the robbers from gaining access into his office to steal money. However, he frowned at the inability of the Igando Police Division to respond to their alert when the robbers struck.

He regretted that the robbers were not challenged by the Police Division despite having robbed 3 petrol stations including Forte Oil at Lanre bus stop the same night and injuring a lady at Power Petrol Station.

Unconfirmed report indicated that the lgando Divisional Police Officer, SP Rawlings Ogoezi, has been redeployed as a result of the multiple robbery incidences.

Efforts to confirm the incident from the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Chike Oti were not possible as he was yet to respond to messages sent to his phone.