Robbers invade Ibadan •Police kill 3, arrest 3 •Alao-Akala’s home burgled

THREE out of six armed robbers who invaded bureau-de-change outlets at Sabo area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, were on Saturday evening shot dead, while three were fatally wounded when men of the state Police Command nipped their operation in the bud.

Sunday Tribune gathered that the robbers, numbering seven, stormed the bureau-de-change section of Sabo community and carried out the operation. They were said to be carting away their loot before security men pounced on them.

It was learnt that the exchange of fire between the two sides led to the death of three of the robbers, while three others were arrested. One of them was said to have escaped.

Briefing journalists at the premises of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Dugbe, Ibadan, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Olabisi Ilobanafor, told Sunday Tribune that the robbers arrived at the Hausa community at about 5.30 p.m., armed with guns, and started robbing some bureau-de-change operators.

However, residents of the community were said to have put a distress call to Mokola Police Station from where the Divisional Police Officer, Oridoye Akintunde, a Superintendent of Police, led his men to the area.

Ilobanafor stated that the police high command called the SARS and Skynet operatives to form a back-up, with an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) and heavily armed men.

Policemen from Mokola Division reportedly moved swiftly to the area but on sighting the police, the armed suspects allegedly started shooting at them in a bid to escape arrest.
Moreover, suspected armed robbers reportedly broke into the residence of the former governor of Oyo State, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, located at Ondo Street, Bodija, Ibadan, carting away valuables which could not be estimated as at the time of filing this report.
According to sources, the suspected robbers, who in the wee hours of Saturday, scaled the fence of the mansion, dug through the wall of the former governor’s private residence before gaining entry into the building and making away with several valuables.
Chief Alao-Akala was said to have been in the United Kingdom for some days, while his wife, Oluwakemi, had travelled to Ogbomoso to pay a condolence visit to the family of the deceased running mate of Senator Rashidi Ladoja in the 2011 gubernatorial election, Mr Sunday Alalade.
Sunday Tribune was reliably informed that the robbery incident had been reported to the Bodija Police Station.
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