Police, robbers in gun duel, one killed in Cross River

Police operatives from Uwanse Division, Calabar South local government area of Cross River State on Monday engaged a four-man robbery gang in a gun duel along Goldie-Mt Zion Road in Calabar, killing one in the process.

One was also seriously injured, while their driver escaped. Two locally made pistols were recovered from them, as well as phones, laptops and cash

It was gathered that the gang has been consistently terrorizing the area since the beginning of this year as they usually robbed the people and business owners weekly.

Investigation revealed that the gang went on rampage Monday evening as they robbed a sport betting shop, an NBL distributor at 4 Mt Zion as well as a Micro Finance Bank at the same location.

An eyewitness, Mr. Ephraim Chigozie said that three of the boys entered their premises and at first he thought they wanted to buy drink but he suspected something was fishy because the three of them wore face caps.

“At first I thought they were customers coming to buy drinks because we sell beer wholesale but I became a bit suspicious because the three of them were putting on face cap.

“Before I knew it, they held one of my boys, I did not know that the leader was pointing a pistol to his waist, so when I walked towards my car, they ordered me back into the store and asked me to lie flat on the floor, after they had dispossessed us, they went into the Micro-finance Bank in the same premises.

“Unfortunately, for them the bank usually has serious activities because they gave loan to market women on Mondays, so when they entered, the crowd was too much, they ordered everyone to lie down but the women started screaming and they had to leave immediately because some people alerted the police too”, he said.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, ASP Irene Ugbo said the gang were ambushed by men of Uwanse Division during their operation on Monday after they had escaped.

“Our men killed one of them during a gun duel because they opened fire, one was injured while two others are still at large, investigation is ongoing.

“We also recovered cash, two locally made pistols, laptops and phone; we will surely get to the root of the matter,” she assured.