Police gun down school teacher in Calabar for robbery
- The Nigeria police killed a teacher who is allegedly a member of a four-man robbery gang
- The four-man robbery gang engaged men of the Uwanse police division, Calabar in a gun battle
- The police recovered from the suspects two locally-made pistols, phones, laptops and money
An unidentified teacher alleged to be among a four-man robbery gang that raided shops along Goldie-Mount Zion street in the Calabar South area of the state capital was on Wednesday, January 24, killed by police in Cross River state, The Punch reports.
Legit.ng had gathered that operatives from the Uwanse police division had responded to a distress call that the robbers were attacking shop owners.
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The policemen engaged the gang in a gun duel during which one of the gang members was killed, another suspect was reportedly arrested alive with gun wounds, and the fourth gang member escaped.
The officers recovered from the suspects two locally-made pistols, phones, laptops, money and other items.
Sarah Bepeh, a witness, identified the only suspect that was killed as a teacher in her daughter’s school.
She said: “I know the deceased suspect very well. He taught in different schools before coming to my daughter’s school in this neighbourhood. I am surprised that he was an armed robber. I asked after him a few days ago when I did not see him in the school and I was told that he had stopped working there because of salary issues.
“He is a graduate and I just don’t understand why he went into armed robbery. Just look at how he destroyed himself in the name of looking for fast money. This gang terrorised this area every day. But today (Wednesday), they met their Waterloo."
Another witness, Ephraim Chigozie, narrating how the suspects operated before the police intervened said, he was among those robbed at gunpoint.
He said: “I saw three guys walk into our premises. At first, I thought they were customers who were coming to buy drinks, because we sell beer in wholesale. But I became suspicious when I noticed that the three of them wore fez caps.
“Before I knew it, they held one of my boys. I did not know that their leader was holding a pistol. As I tried to walk towards my vehicle, he ordered me back into the store and asked me to lie flat on the floor. They dispossessed us of our money and other valuables before heading for a nearby microfinance bank.
“Unfortunately for them, the bank is usually crowded with market women who always go there for loans. They entered the bank and discovered that the crowd was much. They ordered everyone to lie down, but the women started screaming. They had to leave immediately. Some people alerted the police.”
Irene Ugbo, Cross River police public relations officer, said the gang was ambushed by men of the Uwanse police division who engaged them in a shootout.
She said: “Our men killed one of them during a gun duel. One was injured, while two others are still at large. Investigation is ongoing. We recovered cash, two locally-made pistols, laptops and phones from them. We will surely get to the root of the matter."
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According to an earlier report by Legit.ng, the Nigeria Police Force on Wednesday, January 24, paraded suspected criminals operating along the Minna-Bida-Birnin Gwari-Funtua and Tegina-Kaduna highways.
The criminals were apprehended following the efforts of the personnel of Niger state police command under the supervision of the commissioner of police, Niger state, to restore law and order in the communities mentioned and arrest the perpetrators.
The joint team moved in and raided all the identified criminal camps, kidnappers’ dens and hideouts in the forest in Birnin-Gwari, Tegina, Alawa and Kabata town in Niger state.
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Source: Legit.ng
