Nigerian banks suffered more bank robbery attacks this year than the previous 5 years combined and some of them made headlines, with a high percentage of fatality rate.
Here is a look at the most deadly bank robberies in 2015:
1. Owo Bank Robbery:
Three commercial banks including First Bank, Wema Bank and Skye Bank were attacked by dare devil armed robbers in Owo, Ondo state on Thursday March 26th, 2015 and not less than 20 people were killed including bank managers, customers, security officials and school children on the road.
7 policemen were also reported dead by the Police command. N9.3 million cash were recovered when police officials arrested suspects of the well orchestrated robbery incident.
2. Lekki-Ikoyi Bank Robbery:
Bandits dressed in army uniforms stormed a bank on Lekki-Ikoyi expressway on March 12, 2015, in an operation that led to the death of at least 10 people and many others injured.
The incident happened on a day former president Goodluck Jonathan visited Lagos to campaign in a bid to win a re-election. Former Lagos state governor, Babatunde Fashola blamed ex president Jonathan for the robbery, whom he said kept most of the security men in Lagos occupied in his detail instead of them serving and protecting the people.
3. Agbara Bank Robbery:
Leading banks including Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank were attacked in Agbara Housing Estate last month, November 19th.
The leader of the armed robbery was arrested in Ondo state by men of Nigeria Police force. According to him, they stole 28million from the operation.
4. Ikorodu Bank Robbery
The armed robbers reportedly trailed a bullion van to one of the banks, attacked the bank, moved over to the next bank, robbed them and then burnt the vehicle that they used for the robbery.
They left the scene using a speedboat that ferried towards Iyan Oworo. Contrary to reports, the robbery was not led by a woman who was rumoured to have a snake wrapped around her waist. The robbery left more than 20 people injured.
5. Festac Bank Robbery
Festac Bank robbery left at least 2 people dead including a mother and her month-old daughter. Many people were also left injured after the robbery attack.
Nigeria police force say they recovered 27 million from the robbers. On 13/10/2015 at about 0825hrs, the Area ‘E’ and the Divisional Police Headquarters both at Festac Town received information of sporadic shootings at 4th Avenue Festac Town, Lagos.
In a swift reaction, the Area Commander, Area ‘E’ mobilized a joint Team of Area ‘E’ and Divisional Headquarters, Festac that engaged the Armed robbers numbering over 40, dressed in military camouflage and armed with military assault rifles of various calibre robbing Access and Diamond Banks simultaneously.
