The sleepy town of Ikare-Akoko in Ondo state, on Tuesday woke up to robbery in a most daring manner. The robbers took their time to raid four banks and killing 17 people in the process.
The affected banks are: First Bank Plc, Ecobank Plc, Wema Bank Plc, and Spring Bank. The robbers used dynamites to blow open the security gates of the banks and carted away with huge sums of cash yet-to-be-ascertained.
Among the 17 fatalities were four mobile policemen and a seven year old girl who was returning from school.
An eyewitness to the robbery, Mr. Bola Ademulegun, said that the robbery operation went on for three hours, and an Armored Personal Carrier (APC) stationed there for the purpose of robbery prevention, was badly damaged and demobilized by the robbers.
The eyewitness told the newsmen:“The APC was raised inside the gutter and badly destroyed the front of Skye Bank in Oke Agbe. Several persons including the four mobile policemen were shot dead in front of First Bank.”
He added: “Even two persons who came to bail one of their family members were killed at the counter of the Oke Igegbe Police station.
“The robbers also shot another person and took away his Toyota Almera vehicle”.
The witness further said fear gripped residents as they scampered for safety as a result of heavy and sporadic gun shots.
It was learnt that on arrival in the town, the hoodlums headed straight to the Oke-Igbede Police station and shot indiscriminately at the security personnel on sight and badly vandalized the police post making the remaining policemen on duty to flee because of their inability to confront the superior fire coming from the robbers.
Several other Policemen were hit by bullets and were immediately rushed to the hospital.
People believed to have been injured as a result of the incident have been rushed to the Trauma Centre in Ondo.
The Spokesman of the Ondo State Police Command, Wole Ogodo confirmed the incident to the Daily Times but said he could not give details as at press time.