The police on Tuesday killed two armed robbers, who engaged a team of policemen and soldiers in a shootout on Stadium Road in the Elekahia axis of Port Harcourt.

Six of the armed robbers were also arrested by the policemen and soldiers, who did not record any casualty on their part.

The armed robbers were said to have trailed a bullion van from the Diamond Bank branch in Trans-Amadi with the intent of attacking the vehicle and operatives manning it.

Unknown to the hoodlums, who came in a Nissan Primera and red Jetta cars, security operatives, including soldiers, noticed the strange movement and also trailed them.

It was, however, at Elekahia that security operatives opened fire on them, killing two and arresting six. The incident occurred at about 1pm.

“We learnt that the armed robbers were trailing the bullion van from Trans-Amadi, but unknown to them, some policemen and even soldiers were trailing the armed robbers.

“The sound of gunshots around that Stadium Road scared everybody, but in the end, people saw that they were armed trying to attack a bullion bus,” an eyewitness said.

Confirming the incident, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ahmad Muhammad, said apart from killing two armed robbers and arresting six of them, two pistols and two cars were recovered from them.

“After the exchange of gun fire, two of the suspects died on the spot from bullet wounds while six others were arrested.

“Two pistols, a taxi-coloured Primera saloon car and one red Jetta car with no registration number were recovered from the criminals,” Muhammad said.

He, however, added that the police had begun investigation with a view to arresting other members of the gang and bringing them to book.