The police in Cross River State have recovered the sum of N261, 000, three locally made pistols and some live cartridges from suspected armed robbers who attacked, robbed and snatched a bag containing some money from a resident at Barracks Road in Calabar on Monday.
Five of the suspected armed robbers were gunned down by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the command. The suspects were said to be notorious armed robbers.
Reports indicate that about 20 minutes after the incident, an angry mob from Barracks Road came out en masse and set ablaze the robbers’ car.
Further reports indicate that the incident occurred on Monday morning as the victim came out of a bank.
The Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Irene Ugbo, said when the suspected robbers sighted the SARS operatives, they opened fire and in the process the SARS operatives killed five of them.
She further said the quick response of SARS operative was as a result of the timely information by concerned members of the public, “What happened yesterday July, 31 2017 was a great achievement for the command. While on patrol, our men were alerted of a robbery incident in Calabar metropolis.”
“On receiving this information, our men immediately swung into action and by the grace of God, they were able to gun down five of the suspected robbers in the process of exchanging gunfire. Five of them died. We recovered from them, the sum of N261, 000, three locally made pistols and some live cartridges.”
“This group of dead robbers had been terrorising Cross River, and the police will not relent in its efforts at fighting criminality and all forms of illegality across the state,” she said.
According to her, the quick response to the incident is part of the command’s front-line agenda in curbing crimes in the state.
She urged residents in the State not to relent in giving out timely and useful information to security agencies in to help them respond to emergency cases on time.
Meanwhile, unconfirmed report suggest that two more of the suspects were beaten to death by a mob and one was found dead inside a nearby compound located at the Nigerian Chronicle head office along Barracks Road.