Robbers Hijack Bullion Van, Emptied It Amid Heavy Shooting In Asaba

Daredeviled armed robbers on Friday hijacked a bullion van in Asaba, the Delta state capital, emptied it of all cash deposit, amidst heavy shooting.

Eyewitness said the robbers numbering about ten had ambushed the van along the busy Asaba-Benin-Onitsha expressway and after chasing away the security escort accompanying the van, they vandalised it and emptied it.

The source who described the robbery incident as a set of a movie scene, said the robbers successfully offloaded the bullion van of hundreds of millions of naira in broad day light while shooting heavily at police escort attached to it.

It was gathered that the suspected robbers after raiding the van believed to be that of the United Bank of Africa, (UBA), made a u-turn with the vehicle they came with and zoomed to unknown destination.

An eyewitness who narrated the incident alleged that the operation which was said to have lasted less than 30 minutes may have internal connivance.

The eyewitness who said he was at the popular Coca junction when the incident happened said, “I witnessed everything as the hoodlums attacked the bullion van and engaged policemen escorting the van in a gun duel, before diverting the bullion van.

“The incidence occurred about 12:20pm when the bandits opened fire on the policemen, the bullion van and held the money carrying van to a standstill while the policemen abandoned the driver and the bullion and took to their heels for safety.

“There were serious random shooting by the robbers. All we were hearing were the gun shots renting the air. I saw someone who looks like the driver who ran out of the van. Before the police could mobilize back to the scene, the hoodlums have successfully off-loaded the van of undisclosed sum of money leaving the door of the bullion van opened,” our source said.

The abandoned van, it was learnt was driven to “A” division police station by policemen who layer arrived the scene after the robbers had fled.

Agency reports say the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Delta State Police Command, Andrew Aniamaka, rebuffed efforts to get comments from him on the incident as at press time.

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