Robbers have invaded commercial banks in the Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State and carted away unspecified sum of money.
Newsflash Nigeria learnt that the robbers, said to be large in their numbers stormed the community, raided branches of UBA, Zenith and FirstBank.
The robbers operated for close to an hour unchallenged. They first attacked UBA, before proceeding to Zenith Bank and later FirstBank.
An eyewitness said the robbers arrived town in several cars, buses and motorbikes.
The witness said after robbing the banks and nearby POS operators for almost an hour, the gunmen drove out of Ankpa town, shooting sporadically.
“They zoomed off via Okpo road, but no one could come out as they kept firing. Most Ankpa residents are still hiding,” he said.
It was unclear how many people were killed at the time of this report.
“We cannot rule out casualties. The attack went on for over an hour” said Ahmed, a resident of Ankpa.
Police and other security operators in Ankpa town ran away for their own lives,” a source in the community said.
Operatives of the police and other security agencies were said to have fled the scene due to the firepower of the sophisticated weapons of the robbers.
There have been a series of bank robberies in Kogi, mostly deadly.
In December 2021, some armed killed four civilians, a police officer and a bank security guard during an operation that lasted about an hour, leaving residents to scamper to safety. The robbers attacked banks in Egbe and Odo Ere communities in the Yagba West Local Council of Kogi.
Also in June 2020, at least eight police officers were killed while others were injured when robbers attacked a bank in Isanlu town, in the Yagba East local government area of the state.
According to reports, the robbers who were said to be armed with AK47s and dynamites were more than 20 in number.
