The police in Edo State on Friday confirmed that some cash suspected to have been carted away by robbers during Thursday’s robbery attacks on some banks in Uromi, has been recovered.
Phillip Ogbadu, the commissioner of police confirmed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Mr Ogbadu said about N37 million and five cars suspected to have been stolen by the robbers were recovered at a bush where they were abandoned.
He said the robbers might have abandoned the huge cash and the vehicles on realising that the police were on their trail.
The robbers had late Thursday evening carried out what looked like coordinated robbery attacks on some commercial banks in Uromi, Esan North-East Local Government Area of Edo.
The operations, according to some witnesses, lasted for more than two hours, NAN reported.
Meanwhile, the Edo State Government has described the bank robbery as a “well-organised crime”.
The Deputy Governor of Edo, Philip Shaibu, who led other government officials to inspect the crime scene on Friday, said: “This attack is a well-organised crime.”
Mr Shaibu was accompanied by the heads of security agencies in Edo State.
“We are here on behalf of the governor to find out what happened and know the extent of the damage. We are here on a fact-finding mission and have interacted with bank officials, eye witnesses, traders and people living in the area and seen the level of destruction and damage done,” Mr Shaibu said.
He said the state government “has increased surveillance and safety of the people of Uromi”.
When the government delegation visited the palace of the Ojuromi of Uromi, Anslem Odaloighe Eidenojie Il, the traditional ruler said the robbery operation “was like a war zone and it lasted for over two hours”.
“The robbers took control of the area and killed my subjects,” he said.
(NAN)