Paynesville – Five robbers were early Thursday morning gunned down by officers of the Anti-Robbery Unit of the Liberia National Police while in an arm robbery attempt at the Fresh Frozen Food Liberia cold storage in the Redlight Market.
This was the second time the facility was being robbed.
Residents of the area said the attack occurred at about 2am after the armed robbers instilled fear in the residents of the area not to come out else they’ll be killed.
A driver who reportedly attempted coming out when the robbery was taking place was severely brutalized by them.
FrontPageAfrica gathered that some of the robbers escaped the scene.
Police Inspector General Col. Patrick Sudue said a huge sum of money was discovered in a rice bag at the scene.
He said the police was informed about the robbery by callers who reported that a driver was severely beaten by armed robbers which prompted the LNP to immediately dispatch a team to the Redlight Market.
“When the team went on the scene, they observed that the guys were standing in different positions and as security persons when you observe such position, then you have to take precaution. So, the guys called for more support,” Sudue said.
Two of the robbers who earlier opened fire escaped when police arrived at the scene along with a vehicle that parked there, Police Inspector General told reporters Thursday.
He said when the officers returned another two robbers who were already outside the store, tried to resist them but were gunned down in an exchange of fire.
He said three others were as well gunned down within the cold storage by the anti-robbery team.
Following the shootout, two single barrel raffles and a long range AK47 was also said to have been discovered, a police source told FPA.
Inspector Sudue, however, confirmed the two single barrels and a bag filled with Liberian Dollars, but did not mention seeing an AK47.
He said none of his men was wounded during the fire exchange.
“Those who came were very brave and we will have to award them the Police Inspector Bravery Medal, because those officers risked their lives going in there in exchange of fire to gun down these robbers,” Sudue stressed.
The LNP Inspector General then revealed that one of the robbers who was gunned down is on police record for carrying out similar act in the Sand Beach Community in Caldwell area, in a police uniform.
According to him, the LNP is doing everything possible to ensure that citizens sleep in peace.
“We are not going to relent and like I said, anybody who uses force we will use equal and proportional force. In this case, fire arm was used against us, so we used maximum force,” Col. Sudue said.
Meanwhile, Inspector Sudue is calling for more support to enable the police effectively carryout it’s operations in combating crimes across the country.
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