Amba said the two officials– the branch and operations managers – had been with the police since Thursday to aid investigations into the incident.
He stated that the “officials were invited to come with us after the incident.’’
The CP also said the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, had ordered a thorough investigation into the attack on the bank and the Oye Police Division.
He spoke at Oye Ekiti during an on-the-spot assessment of the bank and divisional station, noting that the video footage from the CCTV installed in the bank gave indications of insiders’ connivance.
The CP stated that footages from the bank’s closed circuit television showed that insiders were complicit in the robbery which occurred in Oye Ekiti on Thursday.
He stated, “We observed that there was consistent entry into and out of the strong room, when we conducted search inside the bank premises, we saw N2.5million hidden somewhere and we recovered it. That gave us suspicion that they needed to give us further explanation’’
The robbers dislodged the policemen at the station before heading for the bank, blasting its security door with dynamite and carting away over N25m including some foreign currencies.
The assailants killed two persons–a policeman and a seven-year-old girl in the process. Amba said there was close similarity between the robbery attack and the one on a bank at Ise-Ekiti about two months ago.
The police commissioner bemoaned the killing of the police sergeant on guard duty at the bank and the girl, whose mother was a hawker in the bank area.
He said, “What baffles me is that there was nexus between the robbers and insiders in the banking premises. The Oye Police Division is quite about one or two poles from here (the bank). It was the first point of attack. The bankers confirmed that they heard the shots and it took simultaneously 10 minutes before the robbers arrived at the bank from there.
“Within the period, there were some activities that went on inside the bank. It is either there was strict connivance or the bank officials took advantage to carry out their own intention which investigation would prove.
“Between the time the robbers attacked our men and the time the robbery took place, the staff had enough time to escape through the exit door. They were captured by CCTV moving in and out of the vault. The vault was even opened before the robbers came.
“Despite the opportunity, none of them made efforts to escape, they were stuffing money and there was evidence to prove this.
“The staff opened the vault by 3.05pm and the robbers blew up the security door at 3.12pm, this gave a strong suspicion that there was internal collaboration in this matter.
“What we have seen is that there is a missing chain in the link. It is that missing chain that we are working out. I can assure you that we will mend the missing chain to get the result of our investigation.”
Amba alleged that the CCTV also revealed how the bankers and a customer, who ran inside upon hearing the gunshots, used the robbery opportunity to stuff money into their pockets as they moved frequently into the vault before the bandits blew the security door with dynamite.
He said the robbers had during the attack on the police division used about seven or eight improvised explosive devices.
He said, “The Divisional Police Officer was quite lucky because I went to his office; his seat was pierced. There was consistent firing. They went to almost all the offices and they attempted to get to the armoury; they were not able to have breakthrough.
“The IGP has directed that there must be a thorough investigation and that this modus of operation must be brought to fore.”
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