A group of notorious armed robbers have killed a police officer just days after beheading another.
Police officers (File photo)
A Police Sergeant has been shot dead in Edo State on Tuesday by notorious armed robbers.
According to PM Express, the incident is coming barely few days after a Police Sergeant was beheaded by dare devil armed bandits at NNPC station in Kwara State during operation.
The armed robbers were said to have killed the officer, Sergeant Yusuf Igoche, and injured a school principal on the Benin-Lagos Expressway, Edo State.
The Policeman and the principal, who were travelling together from Enugu State to Lagos, ran into the gunmen operating on the Benin bypass expressway at 3pm.
The bandits laid ambush for victims when the ugly incident occurred.
Sources close to the Police Command said that when the incident occurred, the robbers, who came out of surrounding bushes, rained bullets on the Lexus GX470 Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) in which Igoche and the principal were travelling.
The State Commissioner of Police, Mr. DanMalam Mohammed, confirmed the incident.
Igoche, with Force Number F/462248, who served as an escort to the school principal, died during a gun duel with the robbers. The principal sustained gunshot injuries and was rushed to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) in Benin.
“The sergeant and school principal were returning from Enugu, when they ran into the robbery ambush. The sergeant was an escort to the principal. The sergeant confronted the robbers, but lost” Mohammed said.
The Police Commissioner pointed out that the case was under investigation and that a formal report had been made to the Edo State Police Command on the incident.
He said, “As I speak with you now, we have already started investigation. I just sent a combined team of Police officers into the bush. On that day, our men pursued them. The robbers abandoned their car, while other things were recovered from the car. I told our men to smoke the forest and use long range tear gas.
“When the robbers saw our Policemen, they ran into the bush but they didn’t know the terrain. They reached a dead-end and then abandoned their car there. Our men went there yesterday, but I sent them back today. There is the possibility that they will come out because wherever criminals operated and succeeded, there was almost 100 per cent possibility that they will come back.”
Operatives of the Police Command, in collaboration with other sister agencies, had a few months ago, with the assistance of the Edo State government cleared all forests and bushes which before now, served as hideouts for criminals on the Lagos-Benin Expressway. The move was to make visible all dark spots and to allow motorists clearer view of the road.
It was also gathered that some Police officers have suffered similar attacks in other areas probably because they felt the Police were making their operations difficult.