…as angry mob set ablaze one other
By Sarah NEGEDU
A combined force of the military and the Nigerian Police, on Thursday, foiled a robbery operation at a branch of First Bank plc in Abaji where they arrested three of the robbers.
The FCT Police Command in a statement on Friday, said the Commissioner of Police, CP Bennett Igweh, personally led the police team to challenge the heavily armed robbers.
The statement signed by the spokesperson of the Command, SP Josephine Adeh, disclosed that a yet-to-be-identified suspect was set ablaze by an irate mob at the scene after being neutralised by the security forces.
Giving details of the operation, Adeh said, “In swift response to an armed robbery incident at first bank PLC in Abaji on June 13, 2024, at about 5:00 PM, the FCT police, led by the commissioner of police, CP Benneth C. Igweh, himself, in a combined operation with the military, mobilized to scene and repelled the attack simultaneously carried out on both Abaji Divisional Police headquarters and first bank PLC in Abaji by a group of fifteen armed men who attacked with dynamites in attempt to rob the bank.
“The security forces engaged the armed robbers in an intense gun duel, forcing them to scamper to safety with various degrees of bullet wounds, as the security forces succeeded in apprehending three suspects, namely, Usman (surname yet unknown), who was reported to be the gang leader, Nuhu Musa, 41 ‘m’ of Kogi State; and Muhammed Aminu, 25 ‘m’ of Abaji, with grave degrees of bullet injuries, while a yet-to-be-identified suspect was set ablaze by an irate mob at the scene after being neutralised by the security forces.”
The police was said to have lost an officer in the operation, along with the gang leader hit by bullet during the gun duel. The deceased where both confirmed dead by a doctor at the hospital they were rushed to.
Adeh, while adding that search operation is ongoing to apprehend fleeing suspects with bullet injuries, assured residents of the FCT that the police will ensure they apprehend all the syndicate of the Abaji attempted bank robbery.
She further added that CP Igweh, while commending the effectiveness of the combined operation, reaffirms the command’s unflinching commitment to ensuring that FCT remains inhabitable for criminals, noting that the safety of the residents of FCT is non-negotiable.