Ondo state police have recovered N9m from six of the fifty armed robbers who raided four banks in Owo last week.

The robbery attack killed two police women and four others, including an ASP, and seven civilians killed by the robbers. The robbers were said to have stormed the banks at about 4pm last Friday. Also shot dead by the robbers were a bank manager and his deputy who reportedly refused to cooperate with them on arrival at the bank.

It was later revealed that the robbers were on a tip-off of a huge amount of cash deposited in the banks, in view of last Saturday’s elections. The six robbers were shot dead by policemen who engaged them in a shoot out that lasted for two hours. The two women police officers and the ASP were shot dead at the police station on arrival by the robbers who destroyed the station with gunshots.

According to Vanguard, some vehicles, including that of the DPO of the station, were stolen but recovered hours later after by the police. Twenty-three assorted fire arms, including 9000 rounds of ammunition, 11 dynamites, 100 magazines, ten smoke hand grenades, three steel helmets, police berets and uniforms and nine exotic vehicles, were recovered from the robbers.

Confirming the incident, the Police Commissioner, Isaac Eke, said the command received information that armed men numbering over fifty in several vehicles, wielding sophisticated weapons, had slipped into the state. Eke said the robbers took over the police stations and four banks. According to him, a formidable reinforcement, led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police from Akure, the state capital, in charge of operations was dispatched .

“After intense and protracted exchange of fire with the robbers, one of them was arrested alive, while six others lost their lives from gun shot wounds,” he said.

The police commissioner said one Sony video camera with which the robbers recorded their dastardly act was equally recovered. Eke vowed to arrest those that “managed to escape with bullet wounds towards the boundary of Ondo with Edo/Kogi states.”