Benin City Robbery Scare: Gunmen Storm King’s Square, Raid PoS Operators

A late-night armed robbery attack threw the King’s Square area of Benin City into panic on Tuesday after suspected gunmen stormed the busy Akpakpava Road junction near the Central Bank of Nigeria annex and robbed several Point of Sale operators.

The hoodlums reportedly arrived at about 11:40 p.m. in an operational van and carried out the raid for nearly 20 minutes, targeting cash vendors in the area.

One of the victims, a female PoS operator identified simply as Mama, reportedly lost about ₦200,000 in cash and her mobile phone during the attack.

The gunmen were said to have struck after military personnel and operatives of the Edo State Security Corps stationed around King’s Square had retired to their respective bases, leaving traders and other residents in the area exposed.

A dramatic moment occurred when a cab driver narrowly escaped death after attempting to assist a female PoS operator remove an apron containing cash strapped to her chest.

The gunmen opened fire at the driver, but he reportedly stumbled on banana peels, causing the bullet to miss him as he fell to the ground. The attackers then forcefully seized the cash-filled apron before fleeing the scene.

A female bread vendor who witnessed the attack alleged that the hoodlums had earlier visited the area pretending to be customers seeking a ₦100,000 cash transaction, apparently to identify PoS operators and locate where cash was being kept.

She expressed shock that security personnel attached to banks in the vicinity and police operatives from the nearby Oba Market Division reportedly failed to intervene.

“The robbers settled down and robbed PoS agents. They were not in a hurry at all. They were armed and ready to battle,” she said.

She added that the cab driver escaped death by a whisker.

“He would have been killed, but the bullet passed over his head after he missed his step. He was only trying to save the woman’s money,” she lamented.

An off-duty bank security guard, identified as Emma, who also works as a PoS agent, said he escaped the incident after deciding against working that night.

According to him, there had been a heavy demand for cash earlier in the evening, but he felt compelled to return home.

“The scene was like a movie. They left the cab man on the ground probably because they thought he was dead,” he said.

Further details obtained by this online newspaper revealed that the same hoodlums were allegedly involved in an earlier robbery attack on guests at a popular bar along the Ekehuan Road axis before turning their attention to PoS operators at King’s Square.

The incident has raised fresh concerns over nighttime security around one of Benin City’s busiest commercial locations, particularly following claims that the armed attackers operated for several minutes without an immediate security response.

As of the time of filing this report, the Edo State Police Command had yet to respond to enquiries on the incident. Efforts to obtain the reaction of the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Eno Ikoedem, were ongoing.