By  SIMON EBEGBULEM

BENIN- COMMERCIAL banks operating in Edo North senatorial district of Edo State, yesterday, refused to attend to customers due to what they described as incessant bank robberies in the area.

The banks’ refusal to operate yesterday was sequel to the robbery operations carried out in one of the new generation banks in Auchi and a first generation bank Monday night, where the robbers broke into the banks with dynamites and destroyed computers and other facilities in the banks when they discovered that the money they found in the bank was not much.

It was learnt that the robbers stormed Auchi in two groups, one of the groups attacked the new generation bank while the other struck at the first generation bank simultaneously, after they blocked the entrance and exit points on Warrake Road that connects the two banks. They were said to have terrorised the area with sporadic gun shots and used dynamites to break into the banks.

Though no death was recorded, it was learnt that the operations lasted for about one hour and thirty minutes.
The robbers completely destroyed the banking hall, manager’s office and the Automated Teller Machine, ATM, at the first generation bank. A staff of the bank told Vanguard: “I cannot really tell you anything for now until we carry out some verification. All I can say is that nobody died or was injured in the attack.”

Contrary to the claim by residents of the area that the police failed to respond swiftly, the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, Auchi police station, Ahmed Umaru, said they responded and succeeded in “chasing away” the robbers from the banks. He said, “Unknown to us, while we engaged the robbers in one of the banks, we did not know that another group was at the same time robbing the first generation bank close by.”

However, banks in the area said they would remain closed until the meeting of Auchi branch of the Bankers Forum.