By Isiaka Oyibo

LOKOJA – four Policemen attached to the Area Commanders office in Okene, Kogi State, were, Thursday, shot dead by suspected armed robbers who carted away four AK-47 rifles belonging to the slain officers.

Vanguard learnt that police had earlier in the day intercepted a Golf car Okene-Ogori road conveying 10 AK-47 rifles.

The owners of the guns were said to have escaped, leaving the driver and a female occupant of the car who are now in police net.

A source told journalists in Okene that the dead policemen were ambushed along Okene-Auchi road at Ahache junction. Another source said eight of the 10 guns recovered from the car were those said to have been taken away from Kabba during last month’s raid of the police station and a bank.

The source said the real intention of the gang may be to recover the guns from the policemen, urging security agents to address the issue urgently.

In a reprisal attack, police officers were said to have attacked Ahache village in Agassa area, burning a house suspected to be the hideout of the suspects.

In the ensuing fracas, a 19-year-old boy was said to have been hit by stray bullets while another boy suspected to a thug was also shot in the leg.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Ajayi Okasanmi, who confirmed the story, said effort is being intensified to track down the perpetrators.

He said the 10 AK-47 rifles recovered was a major breakthrough in the effort of the Command to bring sanity to the state.

Though Okasanmi could not confirm the Police attack on Ahache village, a dependable source said the police were there.

It would be recalled that within the year, police officers were murdered in cold blood along Itakpe-Lokoja road, Ajaokuta-Adogo road, before yesterday’s incident along Auchi-Okene road.