Two members of an armed robbery syndicate who invaded “FASTLINK’’ electronic and phone warehouse in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State in the early hours of Wednesday were shot dead in an encounter with operatives of the Ogun State Police Command, while one was apprehended alive.
The spokesman of the Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.
Oyeyemi said the shootout with the police followed a distress call received by the Divisional Police Officer, Igbeba Division, CSP Doga Najeem, from a local vigilante leader that the warehouse situated in Oyingbo area of Ijebu-Ode has been invaded by dare devil robbers who were armed with dangerous weapons.
Upon the distress call, the DPO mobilised his patrol team in conjunction with So-Safe Corps and moved to the scene.
On sighting the policemen, the robbers engaged them in a gun battle for about an hour, at the end of which two members of the gang were fatally shot and one arrested.
Others escaped in their standby vehicle with various degrees of gunshot injuries.
On interrogation, the arrested one, who identified himself as Isiaka Yakubu, 28, an indigene of Yauri in Zamfara State, claimed that the group was eight in number and they came from Lagos State, where they have been hiding for some days before coming to Ijebu-Ode for the operation.
Recovered from them were one locally made gun, one iron cutter, two cutlasses, one iron chisel, as well as phones and electrical material worth N6 million, which they removed from the warehouse.
The Commissioner of Police, Edward A. Ajogun, who commended his men for their swift response to the distress call, has ordered the immediate transfer of the case to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for discreet investigation.
Ajogun also directed a massive hunt for the fleeing members of the gang with the view of bringing them to justice.
The CP, while appealing to members of the public, especially hospitals, to report anybody seen with gunshot injury to the police, also warned criminals to stop testing the will-power of the Command as the determination and resilience of officers and men to decisively deal with all forms of criminality in the state is unwavering.