Officer lynched, two killed as mob attacks Kogi police station over robbery suspects
The police command in Kogi has confirmed the loss of three lives, including an inspector to a mob attack in the Yagba-West local government area on Tuesday.
The mob attack followed robberies at three banks in Odo-Ere and Egbe.
The police spokesman in Kogi, Williams Aya, said in a statement issued in Lokoja on Thursday that the police launched a manhunt for the robbery suspects and arrested two.
The manhunt, the statement explained, was done in collaboration with operatives of other security agencies, hunters and vigilantes, and it took the team to Oke-Ere Hills, where the robbery suspects were trapped.
“The two suspects who were arrested were taken to Odo-Ere police station. An irate mob from the community went to the station demanding that the two suspects be released to them for lynching,” said the police statement. “All efforts by the police to placate the mob proved abortive. It became violent and, in the process, lynched one Insp Bamisaye Gbenga and injured PC Sunday Alechenu.”
The police further stated that in an effort to disperse the mob, a male and a female were maimed, and both died in the hospital while receiving treatment and that the mob set part of the station ablaze.
The police commissioner in the state, Idris Babban, condemned the mob attack and called on them to refrain from taking the law into their hands.
On Tuesday, armed robbers attacked three commercial banks in Egbe and Odo-Ere in Yagba-West local government area, Kogi, killing four people and injuring many others.
The armed robbery, according to witnesses, started at about 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday and lasted for about two hours as the police operatives tried to repel the robbers.
It was learnt that the criminals drove to Egbe town in a Toyota Highlander and other vehicles suspected to have been snatched from their owners along with three Bajaj motorcycles.
The witnesses added that the robbers, in large numbers, started their onslaught at about 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday when they stormed Egbe Divisional Police Station and started shooting sporadically.
Consequently, they were said to have bombed the police station with improvised explosive devices, causing residents to flee.
(NAN)
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