One person was reportedly shot in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, by the police Wednesday in an attempt to stop him from picking some money which dropped from armed robbers’ vehicle while trying to escape arrest.
The victim, whose name could not be ascertained by the time of filing this report, had his hand shattered by the police bullets.
Eyewitnesses said the man and others had rushed to the scene of the incident along Wellington Bassey Way, former Barracks road just by a new generation bank, to pick some money dropped by the fleeing armed robbers.
The robbers were escaping after robbing a government vehicle but luck was against them as their vehicles developed fault where they were forced to snatch another car, and after transferring some part of the money, some passers-by rushed in to pick some cash when the police shot one of them on the hand.
The driver of the government vehicle and a lady were said to have gone to a new generation bank along Abak road to withdraw a huge amount of money not knowing that they were being trailed by the armed robbers after the withdrawal.
Eyewitnesses said the armed robbers, numbering about three including the driver, had trailed a government vehicle with the registration number: AK705 C01 from Abak road to Paul Bassey by Dominic Avenue where they succeeded in blocking the government vehicle.
The armed robbers were said to have removed three large sizes of ‘Ghana-Must-Go’ bags to their vehicles after succeeding in destroying the boot of the government vehicle with bullets
An eyewitness said: “As the driver was going through Paul Bassey Street, he noticed that some people were chasing him.
from a Toyota Corolla. As he tried to link Brooks Street, the vehicle crashed into an oncoming Toyota Camry that was going along the street, it was then that the robbers blocked access to the government vehicle conveying the money.
“It was at this point that the robbers seized the vehicle, opened fire from all directions and shattered the boot of the vehicle and doors to get access into the vehicle and picked the money that was loaded in bags.
“It was in this process as they were moving money into another vehicle that some residents scrambled over the fallen cash. A man who rushed out of his office to pick money was shot by the police.”
The man who was wounded by the police, the driver and the lady in the government vehicle and the woman whose car was snatched were all taken to the ‘A’ Division of the state police command.
