ON Tuesday, 26 October, 2010, when dare-devil, heavily-armed bank robbers invaded the city of Ijebu Ode, Ogun State in the morning, their intention was to succeed in their operation 100 per cent, so they left nothing out that could aid their success, determined to ruthlessly crush any resistance from the law enforcement agents or the people. This could be seen in the kind of heavy artilleries they brought for the operation and the number of gang members that came. The robbers numbered about 20. However, by now they must be still be in shock on how the men of the Ogun State Police Command were able to foil their attempt to rob a bank in the town without losing one of their men while they suffered the casuality of two of their key men and lost their weapons to the police.

As was their usual practice whenever they wanted to invade a bank, Sunday Tribune gathered the armed robbers had been in the bush of a village not too far from Ijebu Ode from Monday night after they had assembled from different parts of the country. Some were from the Eastern part of the country while some came from Port Harcourt and others resided in Lagos. Before moving to the bush, the armed robbers had reportedly snatched different vehicles with which they intended to carry out their operation. While in the bush, members of the gang were said to have been trained on how to use the weapons they had while roles were assigned to each person to ensure a successful operation.

On the morning of Tuesday, another bus that was snatched was driven into the bush to join others but unknown to the gang members, a villager sighted them as they were entering the bush and saw a gun with one of them. The police were quickly alerted and they traced the vehicle into the bush. However, before they could get near them, some of the armed robbers who had laid ambush sighted the police, and sprayed their patrol van with bullets which forced them to beat a retreat. It was a miracle that no casuality was suffered from the encounter.

Not satisfied, the armed robbers reportedly left their base in the bush and went to test their firepower at the police station in Awa Ijebu which was close to the bush they went to. As they got to the front of the police station, the armed robbers were reported to have opened fire on the building, perforating its walls and the roof with bullets. There was no doubt they meant war.

It was after that they now moved towards their target, Zenith Bank, in Ijebu Ode. When they got to the entrance of the bank, they shot sporadically into the air to scare people away before aiming their guns at the door of the bank. Sunday Tribune learnt that this was usually done to weaken the glass before they would start using axes and sledge hammer to break it. It was further gathered that the bank manager escaped death by the whiskers as the bullets shot into the banking hall pierced his seat from one end and came out of the other end. As the bullets flew across the banking hall, all staff and customers around went on their bellies to avoid being hit. Before they could start hitting at the door however, they were confronted by the police and a gun battle ensued between the robbers and the law enforcement agents.

Sunday Tribune gathered that what could have caused serious devastation and heavy casuality to the police was saved by a Corporal who was in the Armoured Personnel Carrier. According to a reliable source, the APC had been demobilised in the ensuing battle and in order to blow up the APC, the gang leader, whose name was given as Biggie, wanted to fire a rocket launcher at the APC and was in the process of loading a launcher head into the rocket launcher. A mobile policeman , a Corporal, had quickly come out of the APC and aimed at the robber. The MOPOL got him in the shoulder and the rocket launcher dropped from his hand. As he staggered, the MOPOL aimed another shot which caught the robber in the lower abdomen and that brought the gang leader down. Another shot was aimed at another gang member too and that brought the casuality among the gang to two. It was when they saw this that they knew they had failed in their intended operation and decided to beat a retreat, escaping through the Gateway Hotel Road, probably to link up with Lagos-Sagamu-Ore Road.

Aside the two dead robbers, two civilians also suffered casualities. One of the victims, a young lady, was caught in the face by the robbers’ bullets when they were shooting sporadically around the bank area. The other victim, an elderly man, was reportedly hit in the head on Gateway Hotel road when the robbers were escaping. It was gathered that the man was in an oncoming commercial vehicle which the robbers wanted to snatch and exchange with their bullet-riddled bus. The driver reportedly tried to outsmart them and they aimed at him through the windscreen. The driver ducked his head and the bullet caught the man sitting right behind him on the head.

According to a source who witnessed the arrival of the robbers to the bank, “I was right at the gate when they arrived in a red car and a white bus around 9.50a.m. Immediately, they started firing shots and I took to my heels. I saw one security man inside who quickly locked the door and also ran away when he saw that I had run too. From where I was, I heard their continuous shooting but the mobile policemen attached to the bank really tried. They confronted the robbers while others also moved in with the Armoured Personnel Carrier stationed nearby.”

According to a police source, there was an information on that Tuesday morning that armed robbers were operating in a grey Mercedes Benz 190 and had snatched a Toyota Hiace bus with registration number XS 967 GGE at Berger in Lagos and were heading towards Lagos/Ibadan expressway. “The information was circulated to all Divisional Police Officers. A few hours after, we were informed that the hoodlums went into a bush path along Ijebu Ode-Ibadan old road. The place is called Ajegunle between Oru and Awa. It was there they started loading ammunition into their firearms.

“A villager saw a gun with one of them and alerted the police and the police went there. Those went were very fortunate to have come out alive as the robbers attacked them but they managed to escape. The hoodlums came out of the bush and went to our station at Awa-Ijebu, sprayed the building with bullets and damaged many cars. They had meant to sack the police station. When they could not do that, they headed for Ijebu Ode and went to Zenith Bank there. However, the policemen stationed there with APC were assisted by the local vigilante group who also came out. In the process, two of the armed robbers were felled while some others sustained gunshot injuries which they went away with,” the source told Sunday Tribune.

During a press briefing which held at Ogun State Police Command headquarters, Eleweran in Abeokuta, Ogun State, the State Commissioner of Police, Mr Musa Daura, listed the exhibits recovered from the armed robbers to include one General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) with 156 rounds of GPMG ammunition, three AK 47 rifles, two rocket launchers with 10 launcher heads, two sledge hammers, two axes, 62 loaded AK 47 magazines, 61 empty AK 47 magazines, 1,070 rounds of unexpended 7.62 ammunition, 332 AK 47 empty shells, 113 live catridges, 23 different makes of handsets, assorted charms and N8,400. Also recovered from the robbers were a white Toyota Hummer bus with registration number XS967GGE, white Hiace bus with registration number XZ634AAA, Opel Astra Wagon car with registration number FV57LND, Nissan Volkswagen Sharan with registration number BZ242AGL, Toyota Camry with registration number 887KJA, and a Bajaj motorcycle with registration number QJ 649SMK.

The Commissioner of Police, while speaking with journalists, enumerated the achievements of the police in Ogun State in the last three months which included the arrest of 66 armed robbers, warning that his men would resist any attempt by criminals to turn Ogun State to a transit point or hiding place. Mr Daura added that his Command had devised means of tackling insecurity in the state with the help of the government and members of the public.

http://tribune.com.ng/sun/index.php/features/2389-day-robbers-entered-ijebu-ode-with-rocket-launchers-untold-story-of-the-fierce-battle

DOES MY EYE DECIEVE ME?
Is that picture from Somalia Or from The story above?
Na action film o!

Holy Holy Holy Crap

Chai!
With those RPG's that APC wouldn'nt have stood a chance!
and now Iran is bringing more hardwares, its really going to be very interesting in 9ja for the next 6 months.

While in the bush, members of the gang were said to have been trained on how to use the weapons they had while roles were assigned to each person to ensure a successful operation.

Those guys actually spent some time training-----such a dare!

, all that rocket heads and launchers in Nigeria?

na2day!:

Chai!
With those RPG's that APC wouldn'nt have stood a chance!
and now Iran is bringing more hardwares, its really going to be very interesting in 9ja for the next 6 months.

Hardware is collective. Both Singular + Plural

Mobinga:

Hardware is collective. Both Singular + Plural

Now i need to mind my language!

My hat is off to that Nigerian Mobile Police corporal who stood his ground even as the gang leader took aim at the police APC with that RPG7 grenade launcher.   There goes one GIANT of a man with balls of steel, who looked death in the eye, and then proceded to calmly phuck it up in a hail of precisely aimed hot lead.   

That RPG round, if successfully fired at the police APC, would have reduced that vehicle to a smoking chassis full of crispy critters.  The Nigerian police high command should seriously consider a MASSIVE reward AND promotion, for that brave warrior who kept his cool against impossible odds, and saved the day in Ijebu-Ode.

thank you, mend

D robbers clearly had some highly placed ppl as sponsors, most likely politicians, who were in need of quick cash. This explains d sophisticatn of their weapons.

Kudos to d brave corporal.

^ do you actually believe Lagos is safe?

oyb I more of think it's like, Thank you PDP

Aba is hot for them. . .so they've now relocated.useless people !