Armed robbers on Saturday morning invaded some churches in Akure, the Ondo State capital and robbed members of the churches of their valuables and the churches’ offering worth millions of naira, Punch reports.
The churches affected, according to a source, were located at Ondo Road and Fanibi areas of Akure.
It was gathered that the robbers spent several hours carrying out the operations without any interruption. They were also alleged to have shared their stolen items in one of the churches robbed.
According to church members, while the robbery was going on, the control room of the Ondo State Police Command was notified but didn’t respond.
The incident happened during the end of the month’s prayer and vigil services of the churches. The hoodlums were said to have carried out the act between 2am and 4am on Saturday.
Narrating the ordeal, a victim said four robbers entered her church with guns, machetes, iron rod and wood, adding that they beat ‘uncooperative’ victims ruthlessly.
She said, “After finishing our vigil at about 3am on Saturday, all of us were going home when some armed men met us on the road. They told us they were members of the vigilance group in the area and they asked us to go back to the church.
“They followed us to the church, on entering the church with us, they closed and lock the door from inside . One of them brought out a pistol and asked all of us to lie down and face the ground. They collected everything on us, especially our phones and money.
“As we faced down, we heard them sharing the money they had stolen from other churches they had robbed earlier. From their conversation, we discovered that they must have attacked no fewer than four churches before us. ”
The victim added that the robbers fled through the window when they heard that policemen were around the area. She said they removed the SIM cards from their phones and dropped them on the chair of the church before fleeing.
It was gathered that 15 minutes after the departure of the bandits, men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad arrived the area. No arrest had been made by the police as of the time of this report .
The men of the SARS were said to have recovered a gun and a mobile telephone dropped by the robbers at the scene of the incident.
