A gang of armed robbers on Thursday attacked a branch of the Skye Bank Plc in Ifon, the headquarters of the Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State, killing two police officers attached to the bank and went away with an undisclosed huge amount of money.
The incident put a halt to social and commercial activities in the town for several minutes as residents living close to the bank ran for safety.
The robbery operation was said to have lasted for about 40 minutes.
According to an eyewitness, the hoodlums numbering fifteen stormed the premises of the bank at about 3pm and blew up the bullet-proof door of the bank with substance suspected to be dynamite before gaining entrance.
Some of the robbers were said to have engaged the policemen in a gun duel outside the bank while others robbed the bank’s vault.
It was gathered that stray bullets from the hoodlums killed a yet to be identified man at a medical clinic beside the bank
The eyewitness said, “They came in three vehicles and they were up to 15 in number, they were heavily armed. When they got to the bank they could not enter easily because the bank had stopped attending to customers. So, they had to blow the door up with dynamite.
“For several minutes, they were shooting everywhere, two of the policemen that engaged them were killed but none of the robbers was killed during the shooting.”
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Femi Joseph confirmed the incident.
He said, “It is unfortunate that we lost two of our men in the incident, but we are still on the trail of the robbers, they went to the bank with sophisticated weapon and inspite of that our men still engaged them.
“The CP himself led the team from Akure to the scene it was when they (robbers) knew that we were closing in on the them that they ran away with bullets wounds. We shall get them soonest because our men are still on their trail.”