A bank customer in Bayelsa State was on Monday saved by some residents and a team of policemen from being dispossessed of the sum of N10m cash by a gang of armed robbers. The incident was said to have happened around the Sani Abacha Expressway in Amarata area of the state capital, Yenagoa, where the victim withdrew the money from a commercial bank.
It was gathered that he emerged from the bank, entered his car and was driving to his destination when the hoodlums struck. An eyewitness, Mary Fabi, said the criminals, who trailed the customer with a Sport Utility Vehicle, shot several times at him but he refused to stop.
She said the robbers also aimed the tyres of the victim’s SUV and this forced the vehicle to skid off to the other side of the road and somersaulted a couple of times before hitting a commercial tricycle but nobody died. The accident caused a traffic build up on the busy road as sympathisers chased the armed robbers, who escaped without the targeted cash.
The efforts of the policemen stationed at the bank and the sympathizers reportedly prevented the armed robbers from carting away the N10m cash.
The rescued customer and the tricycle operator were said to have been taken to a near-by health facility for treatment. Spokesman for the Bayelsa Police Command, Asinim Butswat, said he was yet to get details of the robbery incident and promised to respond.