Police Detonate Explosive Concealed in TV

 Police Headquarters
As Nigerians celebrated this year’s Democracy Day, the Police in Kaduna State yesterday detonated an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) concealed in a television set and planted at Katsina roundabout along Ahmadu Bello way.

This also followed the arrest of a man in Kano State believed to be a top militant leader by the Joint (Military) Task Force (JTF), just as the Kogi State Government declared that the state was not a terrorists state.

But the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Jinjiri Abubakar, who confirmed the incident, said the explosive was planted around 4 a.m. and was found around 6 a.m.

“An IED concealed in a television set was found this morning after it was planted around 4 a.m. and based on intelligence report we got to know of it. Our men arrived there around 6 a.m. and they successfully detonated it and there was no casualty recorded,” Abubakar said.

The commssioner said residents of the area got to know about it after the police had cordoned off the area and the sound that followed the detonation attracted some residents.
He appealed to residents of the city to volunteer information to the police for prompt action to tackle the insecurity challenges in the state. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the sound of the explosive attracted residents of the area who ran out of their houses for safety.

Similarly, the militant leader was arrested by JTF during an operation carried out in the early morning of Tuesday, according to a source.

The source said: “We have carried out an operation and successfully arrested one of the top militant that is wanted.” The man was arrested around the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) by Darmanawa quarters where the suspect was believed to be staying. 

The source further added that the man was arrested following a tip off after the JTF raided his house.  Spokesman of the JTF, Lieutenant Ikedichi Iweha, confirmed the arrest but refused to disclose the identity of the suspect.

Iweha said: “I can confirm to you that we carried out a very successful operation today and the suspect we were looking for was apprehended without resistance. But honestly I cannot disclose to you his identity at this point of investigation or the position of this suspect but it was a successful operation.”

Meanwhile, Kogi State Deputy Governor, Mr. Yomi Awoniyi, who made the declaration when he received organisers and participants of the fifth edition of the Finest Girls on Earth Beauty Pageant in Lokoja, said: “The state is peaceful and devoid of terrorists.”

He assured residents in the state that government was not relenting its efforts aimed at making the state safe from criminals and their activities that led to the discoveries of criminal hideouts and and their subsequent arrest.

“Kogi State is the most peaceful in the federation, with abundant tourism potentials, an advantage the present administration is determined to annex by its investments at the Confluence Beach Hotel among other tourist sites,” Awoniyi stated.

Awoniyi also seized the occasion to woo investors to the state. He urged those seeking to invest in the state to take advantage of the enabling environment created and the incentives provided by the present administration in the State to do business.