Armed robbers snatch LG September salary in Borno

Posted by admin Borno, Local Govt, State News Thursday, October 6th, 2011

Dare-devil robbers yesterday morning attacked a convoy of vehicles converying the September salary of Kaga Local Government workers in Borno, killed the council cashier and snatched undisclosed amount of money.

Daily Sun gathered that an official of the local government had approached the Kaga Divisional Police station in Benisheik to release some of its men as escort to convey the September salary of workers from Maiduguri, Borno State capital to the local government headquarters along Damaturu road. Benisheik is about 70 kilometres away from the state capital.

It was gathered that the police immediately released their men as escort in a vehicle provided by the local government even as officials of the council claimed the cashier, Wakil Ali Gala-Idi had conveyed the money from the bank before the armed robbers struck. “They shot the cashier severally and wounded a policeman sitting beside him in the car,” an official who preferred anonymity disclosed.

Confirming the incident, State Commissioner of Police, Simeon Midenda told Daily Sun that the cashier actually approached the police for escort. “The report I got indicated that the man requested for escort to convey the local government salary from Maiduguri to Benisheik yesterday. The local government provided a vehicle for my men but surprisingly, the cashier left the police behind and drove in his personal car to withdraw the money,” he explained. Midenda explained that his men were surprised when they met the cashier on the way already returning from Maiduguri. “They identified him as the one that came to the police station and then stopped him. They questioned why he had to leave them behind to collect huge amount of money from bank and driving alone without escort.

The police boss said his men decided to turn back and follow the cashier’s personal car behind but regretted that the vehicle provided by the local government for the escort could not cope with the speed of the cashier car. “It was then the policemen resolved to allow one of the men seat beside the cashier while they drove behind the car. We felt the robbers opened fire because of the policeman they sighted in front of the car,” he added.

He said the police were combing the bush around the scene of the robbery whether they could get the evil men who perpetrated the act. “We have also alerted Damaturu and other areas about the incident,” he disclosed even as he insisted the police were yet to ascertain the amount stolen by the robbers. Meanwhile, two Boko Haram men were on Wednesday night killed by a mob at Zannari Ward of Maiduguri Metropolis when they attempted to shoot an unidentified man at a local tea joint at about 8pm.

It was gathered the gunmen came to the tea joint where their target was seated and one of them had attempted to remove his AK47 rifle. “Somebody just grabbed the man from behind and both of them struggle with the gun while others joined. That was how luck ran out of the Boko Haram man. He lost control and the other one attempted to run away having realized that his collegue had been arrested, he was gunned downed by the man holding the gun and turned back again to kill the first one already on ground,” a source disclosed.

The JTF men who later came to pick the corpses could not be reached for confirmation as at the time of filing the report as the mobile line of the spokesman; Lt Col Hassan Mohammed was not available. However, officials at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) confirmed that two corpses were brought in on Wednesday night but could not ascertained if they were Boko Haram men.

-Sunwp_posts