A four-man robbery gang stole $11 million from a trader in the Oke-Sokori district of Abeokuta, in the Abeokuta North Local Government district of Ogun State, in a three-minute operation on Friday.
The perpetrators fled the scene with the $11 million in two ‘Ghana-Must-Go’ bags after demobilizing the automobile of their victim, a Hausa trader who arrived in a Toyota Venza salon car with the license plate ABC 565 GN.
The anonymous victim told two police patrol teams that arrived around 30 minutes after the heist that he was returning to his base after an unsuccessful banking effort where he had gone to deposit the foreign currency.
The Abeokuta-based Hausa businessman told the police patrol team that he had previously approached the Oke-Ilewo branch of a new-generation bank to deposit the money, but was turned away since the banking hours had expired.
However, while returning to his headquarters, the robbers struck, and the trader was killed.
The robbery suspects arrived in a tinted Toyota Camry ‘Muscle’ around 4:35 p.m. on Friday afternoon and intercepted their victim right in front of the FATGBEMS Petroleum Filling Station at Oke – Sokori, where they forcefully halted the victim’s Toyota Venza car and forced the boot open.
After breaking into his car, the masked thieves carried the two bags holding the foreign currency into their vehicle and drove away with the victim’s car key before security personnel arrived.
The four-man heist group wore black T-shirts and pants, as well as black facemasks and weapons.
Abimbola Oyeyemi, the command’s Public Relations Officer, confirmed the occurrence and stated that command officers were already on the trail of the culprits.