text: Nigeria police kill six robbery suspects . LAGOS 1996-08-23 Nigerian police shot dead six robbery suspects as they tried to escape from custody in the northern city of Sokoto , the national news agency reported on Friday . The News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN ) quoted police spokesman Umar Shelling as saying the six were killed on Wednesday . They had been arrested last week for stealing 800,000 naira ( $ 10,000 ) from a sheep merchant .