Police Foil Attempt by Boko Haram to Bomb Lagos State
The IEDs were said to have been programmed to explode by 1:PM Nigerian time when traders and commuters would board buses operated by the Lagos State Government (LAGBUS).
According to eye witness account, the IEDS were planted in front of Union Homes along Nnamdi Azikwe road, Tom Jones area, opposite Access Bank branch and LSDPC house. We gathered that the items were discovered by one of the policemen attached to Union Homes at about 8:10AM.
We gathered that the policeman who was very alert became suspicious of the Sudanese who earlier on drove into the area with a Jeep and started distributing N1, 000 notes to beggars on the spot and later asked them to vacate the area before he drove off.
We learnt that the policeman became curious and went to ascertain what was happening when he discovered the IEDs and immediately alerted other policemen and officials of CBD who later evacuated the area of traders and passers-by.
It was during the exercise that a foreigner suspected to be from Sudan came out of the crowds and was heading towards the IEDs when the CBD marshal named Kareem Saidi ordered him to leave.
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“I asked him to go back, he refused and he insisted on going 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”, Kareem said.
A policeman in the Anti-bomb squad told our correspondent under anonymity that the bombs were programmed to explode around 1: PM and that all the structures within 70 metres would have been affected if the IEDs had exploded.
Efforts to get more information from senior police officers at the scene proved abortive. We could however not reach the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide as at the time of filing this report.
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