Ogun State Police Command, yesterday, said it had killed seven armed robbers on Lagos/Ibadan and Lagos/Ijebu-Ode/Benin expressways within a week during gun duels.
The command’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, said in Abeokuta that no fewer than 10 suspects who had been allegedly linked with various robbery cases on the high ways within the state had been arrested.
According to him, following the order of the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Okoye Ikemefuna, ordered all Divisional Police Officers, DPOs, whose areas of jurisdictions cover the expressway, to relocate their offices there and personally lead their patrol teams.
He said the police boss divided the expressways into smaller beats of four kilometres for easy patrol and monitoring, adding “with this trend of adequate patrol and monitoring, the command will definitely accord necessary and required security to all road-users on the major highways in the state.
The command, however, denied reports of incessant robbery attacks on the highways “as widely circulated, as most of them are rumours while many drivers plying the roads take many road or traffic obstructions for robbery attacks.”
The command urged the affected or concerned road-users to always contact the police when they notice any blockage or traffic obstruction on the expressways instead of broadcasting the stories without confirming such.
He appealed to motorists plying the route to always reach the police on numbers 08037168147 (PRO), 08032136765 (Control Room), (08081771717) and 08053253156 (O/C Quick Response Squad) whenever they noticed any unusual blockage or traffic obstruction on the Ogun State’s expressways.
Meantime, armed robbers struck in Abeokuta, the state capital, yesterday, and dispossessed a businessman of N500,000 at gun-point.
This occured three days after a Toyota Hiace bus belonging to Ogun State Correspondents Chapel was stolen from where it was packed at Quarry Road in Abeokuta.
Yesterday’s incident occurred at Nawairu-deen Road, Isabo, in front of the Correspondents Chapel Secretariat at broad daylight when the robbers numbering about ten shot into the air to scare people away.
The robbers operated for 45 minutes without any hindrance by policemen while people scampered for safety.
The stolen bus was donated by the state government three months ago to members of the union.
Vanguard Nigeria
