Police react to bank ‘robbery’ in Akwa Ibom

The report that two banks in Akwa Ibom State have been raided by armed robbers has been dismissed as false by the police.

Diamond Bank and UBA Bank, located along Abak Road, Uyo, were said to have come under heavy gunfire on Tuesday afternoon, according to reports circulating on Facebook.

One local newspaper published a story on Wednesday claiming that the robbery took place.

Facebook users also circulated on the social media site photos of a crowd of people milling along a road which they claimed was Abak Road minutes after the ‘robbery’ incident.

They also circulated a photo of blood stains on what looked like a tarred road.

PREMIUM TIMES couldn’t, however, verify the authenticity of the photographs.

One Caleb Jacob said on the social media site that he heard gunshots at Ikot Ekpene Road, which is a distance from Abak Road.

Some reports said a woman died instantly in a nearby compound where she was hit by a stray bullet.

But the police in the state said there was no such attack.

“The incident was a clash between rival cult gangs along the road which was promptly contained by the swift response of our patrol teams,” the police spokesperson in the state, Chukwu Ikechukwu, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Mr. Ikechukwu, a deputy superintendent of police, didn’t say which cult groups were involved in the fight or if any arrest has been made.

The police spokesperson didn’t pick his phone calls when PREMIUM TIMES tried to reach him on Thursday morning.

Officials in the two banks have, however, confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES Wednesday that there was an unsuccessful attempt to rob their banks.

Meanwhile, a new commissioner of police in the state assumed duty on Wednesday.

The new commissioner, Zubairu Halilu, takes over from Don Awunah, who has been transferred to the Nigeria Police Academy, Kano, after serving just six months in the state.

Mr. Muazu has served previously as the Head, Anti-fraud Unit, Nigeria Police FCID Abuja and Head of Operations at the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, Lagos.