POLICE ARREST TWO BANK OFFICIALS OVER ROBBERY
…as N25m, Hard Currencies Declared Missing

Two bank officials have been arrested by the Ekiti State Police Command over robbery incident in UBA branch in Oye Ekiti, the headquarters of Oye Local Government Area, on Thursday.
The old generation bank was attacked by a seven-man robbery gang around 3PM in two utility vehicles through Ayede Ekiti with a policeman and a seven-years-old girl killed.
The sum of N25m, hard currencies, were discovered to have been stolen by the daredevil robbers who gained entrance into the banking hall with dynamite.
The robbers who had earlier attacked the Police Divisional Police Station in Oye-Ekiti burnt a police van used to block Ilupeju-Oye highway after they robbed for over 30 minutes.
The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Asuquo Amba, alleged that there was internal connivance between the bank officials and the robbers, going by the startling revelations of the Close Circuit Television (CCTV).
Amba made this disclosure on Friday while addressing newsmen in Oye Ekiti during an on spot inspection to the scene of the incident.
Amba alleged further that the video footage also revealed how the bankers and a customer, who ran inside upon hearing the gunshots, had used the robbery opportunity to stuff money into their pockets as they moved frequently into the vault before the bandits struck the security door with over seven Improvised Explosive Device.
He said it was baffling that the bank officials could allegedly open the strong room seven minutes before the robbery.
The Commissioner said between the time the bandits attacked the Police Divisional Office, which was about 300 metres away from the bank and the time they struck, was enough for the bankers to have escaped after closing the vault, but refused for the sinister intention they allegedly harboured.
”The summary of it is that, there was internal connivance and it is unfortunate. There was a similarity between this robbery and the one we had at Ise Ekiti recently.
”It baffles me that there was suspected insiders’ connivance in the whole issue. Plus or minus, there was a missing link and it is that link that we are working upon, trying to investigate.
”The banking policy does not allow us to post mobile policemen to the bank for a reason known to them and this started in 2016 based on the letter written by the bank requesting for only plain clothed policemen.
”Between the time the robbers attacked our men and the time the robbery took place, the staff had enough time to escape through the exit door . They were captured by CCTV moving in and out of the vault. The vault was even opened before the robbers came.
”Despite the opportunity, none of them made efforts to escape, they were stuffing money and there was evidence to prove this.
”The staff opened the vault by 3.05PM and the robbers blew up the security door at 3.12PM, this gave a strong suspicion that there was internal collaboration in this matter, it showed complicity.
”All these are the dynamics, we are studying and that will form the basis for our thorough investigation,” he said.
Amba added that the police recovered a carton inside the bank containing over N2 million that was hidden by one of the bankers before the operation.
“The carton was hidden under the table within the banking hall. This should be part of the loot from the strong room,” Amba added.
It was learnt that the woman whose child was killed by stray bullets during the operation, had been taken out of Oye Ekiti to her country home.
Ekiti bank robbery: Police arrest two top workers, allege insiders’ connivance
by Abiodun Nejo, Ado Ekiti
Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, Mr Asuquo Amba, said on Friday that the police have arrested two top officials of a commercial bank attacked by robbers in the state.
Amba said the two officials– the branch and operations managers – had been with the police since Thursday to aid investigations into the incident.
He stated that the “officials were invited to come with us after the incident.’’
The CP also said the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, had ordered a thorough investigation into the attack on the bank and the Oye Police Division.
He spoke at Oye Ekiti during an on-the-spot assessment of the bank and divisional station, noting that the video footage from the CCTV installed in the bank gave indications of insiders’ connivance.
The CP stated that footages from the bank’s closed circuit television showed that insiders were complicit in the robbery which occurred in Oye Ekiti on Thursday.
He stated, “We observed that there was consistent entry into and out of the strong room, when we conducted search inside the bank premises, we saw N2.5million hidden somewhere and we recovered it. That gave us suspicion that they needed to give us further explanation’’
The robbers dislodged the policemen at the station before heading for the bank, blasting its security door with dynamite and carting away over N25m including some foreign currencies.
The assailants killed two persons–a policeman and a seven-year-old girl in the process. Amba said there was close similarity between the robbery attack and the one on a bank at Ise-Ekiti about two months ago.
The police commissioner bemoaned the killing of the police sergeant on guard duty at the bank and the girl, whose mother was a hawker in the bank area.
He said, “What baffles me is that there was nexus between the robbers and insiders in the banking premises. The Oye Police Division is quite about one or two poles from here (the bank). It was the first point of attack. The bankers confirmed that they heard the shots and it took simultaneously 10 minutes before the robbers arrived at the bank from there.
“Within the period, there were some activities that went on inside the bank. It is either there was strict connivance or the bank officials took advantage to carry out their own intention which investigation would prove.
“Between the time the robbers attacked our men and the time the robbery took place, the staff had enough time to escape through the exit door. They were captured by CCTV moving in and out of the vault. The vault was even opened before the robbers came.
“Despite the opportunity, none of them made efforts to escape, they were stuffing money and there was evidence to prove this.
“The staff opened the vault by 3.05pm and the robbers blew up the security door at 3.12pm, this gave a strong suspicion that there was internal collaboration in this matter.
“What we have seen is that there is a missing chain in the link. It is that missing chain that we are working out. I can assure you that we will mend the missing chain to get the result of our investigation.”
Amba alleged that the CCTV also revealed how the bankers and a customer, who ran inside upon hearing the gunshots, used the robbery opportunity to stuff money into their pockets as they moved frequently into the vault before the bandits blew the security door with dynamite.
He said the robbers had during the attack on the police division used about seven or eight improvised explosive devices.
He said, “The Divisional Police Officer was quite lucky because I went to his office; his seat was pierced. There was consistent firing. They went to almost all the offices and they attempted to get to the armoury; they were not able to have breakthrough.
“The IGP has directed that there must be a thorough investigation and that this modus of operation must be brought to fore.”

-Rasaq Ibrahim