Churches located along Ondo road were reportedly robbed by some men who pulled a ‘Robin Hood’ act by distributing some of the proceeds from the robbery operation to members of the churches.
The robbers were reported to have robbed the churches located along the Fanibi area of Akure, Ondo State, on Saturday carting away properties worth millions from the churches attacked between 2:00 a.m and 4:00 a.m.
The incident was reported to have happened during the end of the month vigil service held in the churches.
Eyewitnesses and victims of the robbery also alleged that the control room of the Ondo State Police Command was reached during the robbery operation but there was no response to the distress call.
A eyewitness who claimed about five churches were robbed in total during the raid said that the robbers were armed with guns, machetes, iron rods and sticks.
The eyewitness who alleged that some uncooperative victims were injured 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 a 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 locked the door from inside. One of them brought out a pistol and asked us to lie down and face the ground. They collected everything on us, including our phones and money.
“As we lay face down, we heard them sharing the money they had stolen from other churches they had earlier robbed. From their conversation, we discovered that they must have attacked no fewer than four churches before ours.”
The robbers were reported to have removed their victims’ SIM card from their phones as soon as they were alerted of the Police’s presence.
News agency, Punch, reported that the men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad arrived at the scene of robberies about 15 minutes after the robbers escaped through the window.
Although no arrests has been made in connection to the incident, a gun and a mobile telephone was recovered at the robbery scene.
