Strong indications emerged on Friday that the devil armed robbers who robbed five banks and killed a number of persons struck on a day the police commanders were holding a critical weekly briefing with the State Commissioner of Police.
It was learnt that the meeting involved the physical presence of all the police area commanders and the divisional police officers in the state at the headquarters of the Command in Benin.
The robbers numbering over 50 embarked on a well planned simultaneous attack of four banks in the town at the Uromi city Centre on Thursday.
A source who confided in our correspondent said that the robbers attacked the Uromi Police Division at the same time the attack on the four banks commenced.
This made it difficult for the police to shoot their way out of the robbers siege to protect the banks which were under attack simultaneously.
The decision to carry out the well-coordinated attacks at the time of the crucial security meeting in Benin showed the curious depth of the intelligence that must have gone into the planning of the crime.
The absence of the Divisional Police Officers and the Area Commanders who are the operational commanders, must have affected what would have been a coordinated police response against the criminals.
Many are wondering that those carry out the sinister act that resulted in the loss of many innocent lives, millions of Naira from the vaults of four banks and destruction of properties must have monitored the area and the possible security reaction to the threat.
Last night, the Edo State Police Command had said that a total of seven persons were killed during the robbery attack on four banks in Uromi, the headquarters of Esan North-East Local Government Area of the state.
The affected banks are Zenith Bank, First Bank, Unity Bank and the United Bank for Africa.
The Spokesman of the Edo State Police Command, Kontongs Bello, told journalists that seven persons comprising five civilians and two policemen were killed in the attacks.