Two policemen feared dead at checkpoint

There was panic in Agbowa area of Lagos State on Sunday after suspected robbers rained bullets on policemen at a checkpoint near Agbowa Market.

The robbers, who were coming from Ikorodu Road and heading towards Ogun State around 12 noon, stopped on sighting the policemen and fired several shots at them. Two of the policemen were feared dead after the attack.

Eyewitnesses told PUNCH METRO that the policemen numbering about five from Imota Police Division were just mounting their roadblock when the robbers attacked them.

“There is a Sunday market here in Agbowa, which attracts many people. Policemen from Agbowa usually come every Sunday and mount roadblock. They were just doing that when the robbers attacked and killed two of them,” an eyewitness said.

It was gathered that the suspects, who were in a Jeep, were about four in numbers and two of them opened fire on the policemen.

The sound of gunshot and attendant stampede by eyewitnesses, who were close to the scene of crime, threw the neighbourhood into confusion as some churches in the area ended their services abruptly.

A member of one of the churches, who pleaded that her name should not be mentioned in prints, said that most members of the church’s congregation that went to the scene did not return to continue with the service.

It was learnt that the suspects also escaped with three rifles belonging to the policemen, while policemen from Agbowa division later came to take away corpses of the policemen.

But the spokesman of the state police command, Mr. Frank Mba, said only one policeman was wounded in what he described as an “unprovoked attack.”

He added that the policemen arrested two members of the gang.

Mba said, “A team of policemen in Itoikin, Ikorodu, while on routine anti-crime patrol came under an unprovoked attack from a gang of armed men operating in an unmarked jeep. One of the policemen was seriously injured during the encounter and he is in a critical condition in one of the government‘s hospitals.

“Reinforcement from two others RRS patrol vehicles within the neighbourhood later chased the hoodlums to the verge of the border with Ogun State before engaging them in a shoot-out. Two members of the gang were seriously injured before being arrested.

“The case has since been transferred to SARS, Ikeja, while a serious manhunt for other fleeing members of the gang has also begun.”
Source:http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201012202421510