A disagreement between police operatives and other local security agents about the strategy to use to apprehend bank robbers in Osun State is said to have contributed to their escape.
The security operatives were said to be trailing the armed robbers that attacked a branch of Wema Bank in Iragbiji in the Boribe Local Government Area of Osun state on Tuesday, when they launched into an argument over what strategy was perfect for the job.
The disagreement was said to have frustrated efforts to arrest the robbers, said to be about 20 in number, The Punch reports.
The security operatives, comprising policemen, Amotekun corps and local hunters, had reportedly forced the robbers to abandon their vehicles and flee into the bush.
But the failure of the operatives to agree on the right strategy let them down.
A source said, “But the inability to agree on the tactics to be adopted jeopardised the chances of the security men to arrest the perpetrators. It was suggested that canisters should be fired into the bush to weaken the perpetrators before men would enter into the bush and engage them.
“But that idea was however rejected, even though the robbers were not far off going by the sound of their gun. The security men later entered the bush but the robbers had advanced to a village called Oore where they eventually escaped.”
The Field Commandant, Osun Amotekun Corps, Comrade Amitolu Shittu, confirmed there was a disagreement while security men were trailing the robbers.
He said instead of moving towards Ibokun, the robbers ran into the bush in Ada and later escaped through Oore village.
He said, “There was a disagreement on the tactics. The robbers were not expected to run into the bush where they did in Ada. From the sound of their gun, they were not far from us. One of the security men that went on the trail was shot dead. We did our best under the circumstances we found ourselves.”
The spokesperson for Osun Police Command, Yemisi Opalola who confirmed the killing of police officers during the robbery, identified the casualties as Inspector Ogunbiyi Ahmed and Inspector Odeyemi Ayinla.
