Ogun police shot two highway robbers dead

The Ogun state police command on Wednesday shot dead two suspected armed robbers who specialised in robbing luxury buses along Sagamu-Ore-Benin Expressway.

When our correspondent visited the police divisional headquarters, Ogbere, corpses of the two armed robbers were dumped in front of the police station. Three pump action rifles, two locally made pistols and machete, recovered from them were also on the ground.

Valuable items which included cash, phones, laptop, wristwatches and others, the robbers snatched from the victims, have been equally recovered.
Similarly, affected passengers were also seen waiting for identification and possible recovery of their dispossessed valuables.

The white 34 passenger bus belonging to Chisco Investment with registration number Lagos AAA 649 XN, which had his window glass shattered was parked in front of the police station.

One of the victims, Donatus Adie, told our Correspondent that the robbery incident occurred at the J4 Junction in Ogbere axis of the ever busy expressway, around 1.08a.m on Thursday.

He stated further that the robbers, armed with guns and other dangerous weapons, blocked the ill-fated luxury bus with another 18 passenger bus and forcefully embarked the vehicle.

He disclosed further that one of the robbers immediately took over the bus after pushing the driver off and then drove the bus into the bush, where the passengers were robbed of their valuables.

Donatus, who said the bus had departed from Jibowu in Lagos enroute Aba-Owerri-Port-Harcourt, explained the robbers operated for more than two hours and later disappeared into the bush with passengers’ personal effects.

He stated that the distraught passengers were still in the bush when policemen, who he said might have been tipped off by passersby, arrived the scene and went after the robbers.

Another victim, Kunle Apanishile, informed our correspondent that one of the robbers dealt him serious blows and snatched his wristwatch and a sum of N30,000. The victim who incidentally recovered his wristwatch from one of the dead robbers at the police station, said their attackers were three and commended the police for their timely response.

Briefing journalists on the incident at Ogbere police station, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Ogun State, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the police got information that robbery incident was going on at J4 Junction in Ogbere and the DPO of Ogbere division, CSP Agunbiade Adeyinka, led his men to the scene.

He added that on getting there, the robbers had fled the scene and the police traced them to the hideout inside the bush, where two of the robbers were shot dead and the other escaped with gunshot wound.

Oyeyemi, who urged hospitals around Ogbere to report any patient with gunshot wound immediately to the police, however, said the police would go after the fleeing member of the gang and apprehend him.

The PPRO, therefore, said a sum of N166,000 recovered from the armed robbers would be shared among the victims, while their valuables would also be returned to them.