A police man and member of the public were injured on Thursday when a fresh dynamite exploded at the branch of First Bank Plc in Okeho, Oyo State.
According to Newspeakonline, the bank was robbed by armed gang on Wednesday but three members of the gang were apprehended and burnt to death by angry mob, while two of were arrested by the police.
According to the Oyo State Police Command spokesperson, SP Olugbenga Fadeyi, the robbers blown the security door of the bank open with a dynamite fired from an AK 47 gun. After gaining entry, they went for the strong room and made away with some cash.
When the Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr Nwachukwu Enwonwu visited the scene of the incident on Thursday, a mammoth crowd of angry residents was said to have gathered at the bank, requesting him to release the arrested armed robbers to them in order to set them ablaze, but Enwonwu refused.
Fadeyi said the crowd remained with the policemen who had gone there to examine the equipment still left in the bank’s premises and also assess the extent of damage. He said the CP appealed to the crowd to maintain a good distance to allow his men examine the premises but that they remained adamant.
A new dynamite exploded in the process, injuring a police man and a a member of the angry crowd. Consequently, Fadeyi said some of the mob attempted to attack the police but that the CP ordered his men to leave the scene to prevent the situation from degenerating to physical attacks.
He said: “The CP went early this morning for on-the-spot assessment of the robbery incident. He saw the suspects burnt near the bank’s gate. He discovered that four people were burnt. The security post of the bank shattered with dynamite while a police sergeant was shot dead by the bandits. The CP entered and assessed everywhere. They took cash from the strong room but we can’t ascertain the actual amount.
Then, police moved outside to asses other areas. The mammoth crowd still gathered. The mob wanted police to release the arrested two suspects to them but police refused. In the process, the mob attacked police, injuring one of our men. Police asked them to move away to give room for assessment but they did not respond.
“As our men were examining the premises with mob gathered near them, a new dynamite exploded and injured one of them. Then they attacked police and injured one of our men. It was an aggressive mammoth crowd. They immediately left Okeho before it degenerated to confrontation.”
He said the two suspects had been brought to Ibadan for intensified investigations.
