ARMED ROBBERS ATTACK FIRST BANK IN AKWA IBOM

Armed robbers on Wednesday attacked a branch of the First Bank on Ibekwe Road, Ikot Abasi Urban, in the Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

It was learnt that a police vehicle that was on its way to the bank to confront the robbers, somersaulted midway to the scene, killing a police sergeant, while other policemen sustained injuries.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the robbers, said to be about 18, stormed the bank around 11.45am and carted away an undisclosed sum of money.

Eyewitnesses told our correspondent that members of the gang were dressed in military camouflage, shooting sporadically into the air to scare away passersby.

They said the robbers had an uninterrupted day as the operation lasted for more than an hour without any challenge from the security agencies.

An eyewitness, who was at the bank, Mr. Akaninyene Uko, told our correspondent that as the operation was ongoing, the robbers were seen loading huge sums of money into a waiting vehicle parked outside the bank’s premises.

“I was in the bank before the armed robbers arrived. They began to shoot sporadically into the air,” he said.

It was gathered that during the operation, the robbers kidnapped an Indian expatriate working with the National Integrated Power Project, identified simply as Zubayer, and two other unidentified employees of the bank.

Some operatives of the Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Jubilee, in Ikot Abasi, were said to have engaged the bandits in a gun battle.

The robbers, however, escaped through the Okopedi waterways.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Cordelia Nwawe, an ASP, said no arrest had been made, adding that policemen had been deployed in Ikot Abasi to find the robbers.

She said the command lost a policeman to the incident.

“We lost a sergeant. He wasn’t shot. There was an accident with our vehicle on the way to the bank to confront the robbers.

“Three persons ─ a white man and two employees of the bank ─ who were kidnapped by the robbers have been rescued by the police.

“Three policemen, who were injured in the auto accident, are still in a hospital. The police are on the trail of the robbers,” She added.