Gunmen snatch over $26,000 from Nigerian government official

A chief accountant in Nigeria’s central Niger State was accosted and robbed of a sum of 9.5 million naira (about $26,000) by four gunmen, the local Punch Newspaper said.

The incident happened on Monday morning (August 5) in the state capital, Minna. The gunmen reportedly shot multiple times into the air as the official was returning to his office.

He had withdrawn the said amount at about 10: 30, with the sum believed to be overhead cost for the office of the head of service. Police in the State confirmed that incident.

Police Public Relations officer, Mohammad Abubakar, confirmed the incident, stressing that they were on the hunt for the said criminals.

“We have dispatched the information to all our units in the Command to be on alert. We are on top of the situation,” Abubakar told local media outlets.

The operation vehicle of the criminals broke down at a point after the heist. They hijacked a second vehicle to continue their escape.