Bomb explosion averted in Lagos A joint team of security agents pulled a fast one on Thursday when they pre-empted the devilish plot of a suspected Sudanese to blow up the Lagos Business District (CBD) in the heart of Lagos Island. The said Sudanese national, alleged to be hatching the plot to set off bombs at a bus terminus in the area, is now in custody of the police in Lagos. According to Daily Independent three substances suspected to be explosive devices were recovered at the designated scene of the plot in the early hours of Thursday. Sources close to the security agencies disclosed that the suspected bombs had been programmed to explode at about 1.00 p.m. at a spot at the LAGBUS terminus in Lagos Island where passengers normally queue up to board buses to their respective destinations. The three explosive devices were said to have been taken away immediately by the police bomb squad from the Ikeja Police Command. Eyewitnesses said the explosive devices, planted in front of the gate of a firm, Union Homes, along the Nnamdi Azikiwe Road, Tom Jones area, opposite Access Bank branch and LSDPC House, were discovered by one of the mobile policemen attached to the company. The sources said the policeman became suspicious of a man who had earlier come in a jeep and started distributing N1,000 notes to beggars. The man later asked the beggars to vacate the area before he drove off. The policeman, an eyewitness said, later went there to know what was happening only to discover the explosive devices and immediately alerted other policemen around. Officials of the CBD also followed in tow to evacuate traders and passers-by away from the spot. Police authorities on the Lagos Island were immediately alerted and occupants of different offices and shops within the area were similarly evacuated. Police Anti-Bomb Unit was also subsequently informed of the confusing situation. In the ensuing melee, a foreigner suspected to be a Sudan national earlier sited in the area was apprehended by an official of the CBD identified as Kareem Saidi. Saidi later told newsmen: “I asked him to go back, he refused and insisted to go to the spot of the grenades. I then arrested him and handed him over to the policemen from Ebute-Ero station who took him away to their station”. One of the officers of the anti-bomb squad that took away the suspected devices told newsmen on condition of anonymity that the bombs have been programmed to go off around 1.00 p.m. This could have wreaked havoc involving several lives in the area if the bomb had gone off, he said. He added that if the bombs had gone off, all the structures within 70 metres would have been damaged and lots of people killed. Business activities in the area which were disturbed for about four hours, restored gradually after the bombs have been taken away, while police vehicles, including anti-bomb truck were stationed in the area. Efforts to confirm the development from some senior police officers who were at the scene proved abortive, as the cell phone number of Lagos Police Public Relations Office (PPRO), Ngozi Braide, did not go through up at press time.
Posted on: Fri, 16 May 2014 12:38:47 +0000
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