Policeman killed pursuing robbers

A police officer, whose name his colleagues wouldn’t yet disclose, has lost his life in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, while pursuing a gang of robbers terrorising business premises in some parts of the city but fled the scene. Daily Trust gathered from a witness that the suspected armed robbers had robbed a petrol station along […]

A police officer, whose name his colleagues wouldn’t yet disclose, has lost his life in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, while pursuing a gang of robbers terrorising business premises in some parts of the city but fled the scene.

Daily Trust gathered from a witness that the suspected armed robbers had robbed a petrol station along the Fajuyi-Secretariat road and were escaping through the old Iyin-Ilawe road when the police officer in a white Hilux van sighted them and gave them a chase.

The source said the van trailed the bandits up to the NTA junction, where the bandits were said to have waited and blocked the road in readiness for a cross-fire.

The witness said, “When the Hilux chased them up to that point, the armed robbers used their vehicle to block the road and rained bullets on the police van. The bullets hit the driver of the vehicle and died on the spot after which the robbers entered their car and sped off.”

The incident caused commotion as the area was immediately deserted following sounds of the rifles the bandits brandished.

Workers coming to the Ekiti State House of Assembly and the state secretariat and motorists going to Ilawe road were said to have scampered to safety to prevent being hit by gunshots.

Another witness said, “Some of the motorists had to take a detour to escape from the scene because the sound of the guns caused panic in the area.”

The corpse was later evacuated by police officers from the state police command and deposited at the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital morgue.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti command, Deputy Superintendent, Caleb Ikechukwu, while confirming the incident, said, “The attack on the police officer might be a reaction of criminal elements to the cleansing operation being carried out by the command.”