According to eyewitnesses, a crack team of anti-robbery police from the Abia Command foiled an attempt to rob a branch of an old generation bank in Umuahia on Thursday after a fierce gun battle.
According to eyewitnesses, the operation was carried out by a four-member gang.
When the armed men saw the cops, they began to shoot sporadically as they tried to flee.
They were said to have abandoned their red Corolla car, registration number LND 126 HL, and fled in another car snatched from an unsuspecting motorist due to police pressure.
One of the eyewitnesses, Yusuf Garba, a cosmetics dealer on Okpara Avenue, said the operation occurred between 9 and 10 a.m., when he was still displaying his wares.
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According to Garba, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the incident resulted in a serious stampede in which residents and traders in the area, as well as passersby, “ran helter skelter” for their lives.
He claimed that at the conclusion of the gun battle between police and robbery suspects, three people were shot, including a police officer at the bank.
Mr Iheanacho Agubuche, another eyewitness and dairy seller in the area, identified one of his co-dairy sellers and a passerby as the victims of stray bullets.
According to Agubuche, the victims were immediately taken to the nearby Federal Medical Centre for treatment.
“We’re hoping they survive the bullet wounds,” he said.
SP Geoffrey Ogbonna, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), confirmed the incident to newsmen.
According to Ogbonna, the command received information that a bank on Bank Road in the capital city was being robbed.
According to him, the command “immediately dispatched an anti-robbery squad to the scene, and they successfully foiled the robbery attempt.”
Meanwhile, residents of the state’s capital have urged Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu and Commissioner of Police Janeth Agbede to beef up security in the state.
They alleged that violent crimes such as armed robbery, kidnapping, and banditry had become commonplace in various parts of the state.
