Date: 2017-04-17

...Police arrests 2

There was pandemonium in parts of Ilorin, Kwara State last Thursday when armed robbers stormed two filling stations and carted away money to the tune of N600,000.

Pilot Crime gathered that the gunmen also held customers of the filling station hostage and dispossessed them of their valuables during the robbery operation. The affected filling stations are Energy Filling Station and L. O Atinuke Filling Station at Basin and Alagbado areas respectively.

According to eyewitness account, the gunmen numbering five had stormed Energy Filling Station about 1:35pm to carry out their operation.

"They shot sporadically and later took customers hostage, took their phones and all the money they had on them. The filling station attendants were brutalised and the sum of N200,000 was taken from them at gunpoint," a source told our reporter.

It was further gathered that the armed men proceeded to L. O. Atinuke Filling Station where they carried out similar operation. Narrating the incident a source said, "The gunmen arrived the filling station on the pretext of buying fuel. They complained that the service was poor and demanded to see the manager.

"One of the staff, Jimoh who tried to calm their nerves was slapped before they rounded up the six attendants on duty, beat them up and robbed them of N400,000. "They also took phones and personal money of staff and customers. They shot sporadically as they escaped from the robbery scene. They also dispossessed a man of his motorcycle, which one of them escaped with.

However, two of the armed robbers were said to have been arrested by operatives of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the state Police command at Gerewu area of Ilorin, while they were trying to escape. The security agents reportedly engaged the gunmen in a shootout before they were overpowered.

Consequently two of the armed robbers were arrested namely Emmanuel Adimula and 28-yr-old Waheed Aliyu, while two locally made pistols were recovered from them. When contacted on the development, the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ajayi Okasanmi confirmed the robbery attacks on the filling stations and the arrest.

During a telephone chat on Saturday, he said, "We got the information and our men took a very smart step to rescue the situation. Two were arrested while others escaped. Our men have launched manhunt for the fleeing gang members. Investigation is ongoing, which will give lead to arrest of others.