Tragedy struck in Calabar metropolis during the Christmas season as gunmen attacked one of the fuel stations killing a policeman and three others before making away with millions of naira.
Also, it was a sad Yuletide at Bendeghe Ekiem in Ikom Local Government Area of the state as gunmen murdered an undergraduate of University of Calabar, Emmanuel Agbor, at the weekend.
It was learnt that assailants gunned down Emmanuel at about 7pm last Saturday while returning from the shop.
A family source told Daily Sun that though the laptop and phone that were taken away were later returned and their shop at Mile Two was destroyed.
The source said police authorities had been informed over the murder of their son.
Investigations by Daily Sun revealed that the incident occurred at about 8pm yesterday when a gang of robbers numbering about 10 stormed the petrol station located along Palm Street, Calabar South and opened fire on innocent people who came to buy petroleum product, killing the policeman at the gate and three others.
An eyewitness told Daily Sun that after disarming the policeman, the robbers ordered everybody including customers and the salesgirls to lie down, and dispossessed them of their valuables, including money.
“When the dare-devil gang struck about 8:00pm, they moved straight to one of the policemen who sat at the gate of the station and shot him on the neck killing him instantly and took away his gun while the other one who sat behind fled.
“After that, the hoodlums moved round the pump attendants and collected the money they had made that evening and later went into the cashier’s office and collected huge sums of money realized from sales before fleeing the scene.”
When Daily Sun visited the scene of the incident, it was discovered that three others shot dead by the robbers included one mechanic, identified as Joe, who drove into the nearby compound not knowing that robbers were operating at the station.
The late Joe was said to have return from work and drove in his red car to buy fuel only to be confronted by the robbers at the gate who opened fire and shot him dead.
Others shot included a provisions store operator directly opposite the filling station and another man who tried to escape from the scene of the robbery.
It was learnt that the provisions store man, simply identified as Oga Ben, was shot as the robbers tried to escape, while the other victim was shot at Palm Street/Target Road and was dragged out of the car before the gang made away with the vehicle.
The owner of the filling station, one Mr. Edet, could not be reached for comments, but one of the pump attendants told Daily Sun that ‘Oga’ had lodged complaints and was very optimistic that the security operatives would do something about it.
Cross River State Police Command spokesman, Mr. Hogan Bassey, could not be reached on his mobile phone.
But one of the officers in the office said they were aware of the robbery and the murder, calling on the citizens to be security cautious in this season.
Source : Sun
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