Access bank robbery: slain policemen on suicide mission

Juliana Francis

Fresh facts have emerged about the killings of some policemen at the Ayobo area of Lagos State on Sunday when some bank robbers attacked Access bank.

According to a senior police officer, the bank robbers chased down the policemen like common thieves and repeatedly shot them just to make sure they were dead.

This was even as more facts revealed that the robbers gained entry into the banking premises using a ladder. The police source insisted that no member of the robbery gang was harm, let alone killed as claimed by some of the eye witnesses. His words: “If four robbers were killed, believe, there would have been a parade at the police headquarters. The killing of four robbers after they killed three policemen is a big event. Police armoured personnel carrier chased the robbers until they fell into a gutter with their Camry car, but they abandoned the car. None of them was killed.”

Another officer opined that the three policemen went on suicide mission. He revealed that not only did the robbers slain the policemen, brutally using bullet to severe the hands of one of the policemen, but the bandits also made away with the three rifles belonging to the slain officers.

The slain men comprised an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), who led the team, a sergeant and a corporal. The corporal, identified as Jerry’s hand was severed off his body. His corpse was found in shed housing building materials, where the robbers had chased him down to, cornered him and pumped him full with bullets.

Preliminary investigations by policemen from Ipaja Police Station showed that only two policemen were killed: The ASP and the Inspector.

But after policemen from Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, visited the scene, they combed the area thorough and discovered the mangled body of corporal jerry in the shed.

Explaining why he called the gallantry of the slain men as suicide mission, the police source said: “They killed themselves. How can three policemen raced to robbery scene to confront a gang of robbers? When the robbers they had gone to the security post of the mobile policemen attached to the bank, but discovered that the mobile policemen were not on duty. They had also checked the post where the civilian guards and did not see anybody.

“They brought their ladder and climbed into the bank premises. They were attempting to break into the ATM machine, but they did not succeed. Anyone who claimed they succeeded was lying. The police station got the alert, but instead of the ASP, who happened to be the operation officer to call for back up, he took the other two policemen to the bank. They drove straight to the front of the bank and they were attacked. It was only corporal Jerry who managed to escape, but they pursued him to the shed where someone used to sell building materials and killed him. They used bullet to decapitate his hand from his body. Nobody initially noticed his body, until policemen from SARS Ikeja came and combed the area. They found his corpse in the shed.”