The police in Benue state have killed seven suspected armed robbers after a gun duel along the Lafia-Makurdi road.
A statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Benue Command, DSP Catherine Anene, in Makudi, said the incident followed reports about armed robbery incidents and the attack of a police check point on June 4 at Lafia-Makurdi road leading to the death of Inspector Boniface Odeh and the loss of an AK47 rifle.
The police had detailed a team of police officers to trail the armed robbers terrorising commuters on the road.
Anene said while the police were on the trail of the robbers, they received information Friday at about 04:40p.m that armed robbers were operating on the same road.
She said the team of police officers swiftly moved to the scene and met the hoodlums dressed in military camouflage and police uniforms.
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According to her, the robbers engaged the police in a gun duel that lasted for about 20 minutes and in the process, seven of the armed robbers sustained various degrees of bullet wounds and were rushed to Benue State University Teaching Hospital, (BSUTH), where they eventually died.
The PPRO said their corpses have been deposited at the morgue for autopsy.
Items recovered from them include the missing AK47 rifle, one other AK47 rifle loaded with twenty-one live ammunition, one locally made pistol with two cartridges, two den guns, four touch lights, four machetes, nine cell phones and assorted charms.
The Commissioner of police in the state, Garba Mukaddas, has warned criminals to desist from their evil ways or face the full wrath of the law as the command will not leave any stone unturned in the fight against crime.
