A team of policemen attached to the Central Police Station, Onitsha, Anambra State on Friday shot dead four suspected armed robbers, who were noted to have been terrorising the city of Onitsha and Asaba.
Saturday Tribune gathered that the suspects had organised themselves inside a thick forest in Omelumgbome, in Delta State where they wanted to rob a contractor, who usually comes there to pay the labourers helping him to lay pipes for one of the telecommunications networks.
However, on a tip off, the Special Inspector General of Police (IGP) Task Force on Heinous Crimes, Zone C, attached to the Central Police Station (CPS), Onitsha swung into action which led to the death of the four armed robbers in a gun duel while others fled.
According to a police source, who pleaded anonymity, the team of police officers led by the Commander of (IGP) Special Task Force on Heinous Crimes, Zone C, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) immediately mobilised to the scene where they laid ambush and killed the robbers.
“The policemen had gone there at around 8.30p.m following a tip off that the dare devil armed robbery gang was planning to launch a bloody attack on a man who usually comes to Omelumgbome junction where he pays the labourers who dig ground and lay pipe for one telecommunications network. They parked their vehicle a pole away from the bush and trekked to where they laid ambush for the robbers until they arrived,” the source said.
The source further disclosed that on sensing danger, the robbers opened fire and the police responded equally which eventually led to a gun duel between the robbers leading to the death of four suspects.
He also disclosed that during the gun duel, the leader of the robbery gang fled with a Mercedes Benz 190.
It was also gathered that one of the robbery suspects, Chinedu Okoye from Aguleri in Anambra State, who had been on the wanted list of the police confessed before he died that it was his gang that killed the Officer In-Charge of the Special Anti Robbery Squad, (SARS), (CPS), Onitsha, (DSP) Emmanuel Ochiobi, on Monday this week.
Items recovered from the robbers include two AK 47 riffle magazines with 30 live ammunitions and one fabricated LAR rifle with empty magazine.
Meanwhile, the police said they have launched an aggressive manhunt for the king-pin of the gang who fled the scene of the incident.
source : Tribune
