According to eyewitnesses, a crack team of anti-robbery police from the Abia Command foiled an attempt to rob a branch of an old generation bank in Umuahia after a fierce gun battle on Thursday.
According to eyewitnesses, the operation was carried out by a four-person gang.
When the armed men saw the cops, they started shooting sporadically as they tried to flee.
They were said to have abandoned their red Corolla car, with registration number LND 126 HL, and fled in another car allegedly snatched from an unsuspecting motorist due to police pressure.
One of the eyewitnesses, Yusuf Garba, a cosmetics dealer on Okpara Avenue, said the operation occurred between 9 and 10 a.m.
According to Garba, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the incident caused a serious stampede in which residents and traders in the area, including passersby, “ran helter skelter” for their lives.
He claimed that three people were shot at the end of the gun battle between police and robbery suspects, including a police officer at the bank.
Mr Iheanacho Agubuche, another eyewitness and dairy seller in the area, identified one of his co-dairy sellers and a passer-by as those hit by stray bullets.
According to Agubuche, the victims were immediately rushed to the nearby Federal Medical Centre for medical attention.
“We’re hoping they’ll survive the bullet wounds,” he said.
SP Geoffrey Ogbonna, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), confirmed the incident to reporters.
According to Ogbonna, the command received information about an attempted robbery at a bank on Bank Road in the capital city.
He stated that the command “immediately dispatched an anti-robbery squad to the scene, and they were successful in foiling the robbery attempt.”
Meanwhile, residents of the capital city have urged Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu and Commissioner of Police Janeth Agbede to beef up security in the state.
They complained that violent crimes such as armed robbery, kidnapping, and banditry had become a daily occurrence in various parts of the state.
