The Kwara State High Court has sentenced five suspects involved in the 2018 Offa bank robbery incident to death.

Justice Haleemah Salman of the Kwara State High Court found the five suspects guilty of illegal possession of firearms, armed robbery and culpable homicide.

According to the judge, the offences are punishable by death.

A former Divisional Police Officer in Offa, Kwara State, Adamu Danjuma, told the State High Court on Monday how 17 people were killed in a bank robbery in the area in 2018.

Dare-devil armed robbers had on April 5, 2018, killed nine policemen and eight civilians during an attack on commercial banks in Offa.

Five suspects were later arrested by policemen and arraigned for conspiracy, armed robbery, possession of firearms and ammunition and murder.

The suspects are – Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibikunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salahudeen Azeez and Niyi Ogundiran.

Danjuma, who testified at the resumed trial of the suspects, told Justice Haleema Saleeman that 21 AK47 rifles were stolen from the armoury of the Offa police station during the robbery operation.