Suspected Bomber Plotting ‘Devastating’ Attack On Lagos Arrested

Suspect. . . Abiodun Amos alias Senti

The Nigerian police said they have arrested a man plotting, with some other people at large, to bomb the pivotal Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.

IED making materials recovered from the suspect

News Agency of Nigeria report continues:

The suspected bomber was identified as Abiodun Amos alias Senti.

In a statement, the police described him as the leader of a militant gang planning to bomb the 3rd Mainland Bridge in Lagos.

He was arrested on November 2 in a hideout at the bank of Majidun River in Ikorodu area of Lagos State and two AK 47 rifles recovered from his possession, police said.

“The principal suspect is an Ijaw man and a Native of Ese Odo LGA of Ondo State. He is an explosives expert who specializes in assembling and modifying large scale Improvised Explosives Devices (IED) for terrorist act.

“The suspect also volunteered confessional statement to the Police and named other members of the militant group that are still at large.

“In the course of further investigation into the case, one of the suspects at large mentioned to the Police by the principal suspect as the person in possession of their explosive devices and the detonators was trailed by the Police (IRT) Operatives on the 26th December, 2016 while conveying in a Toyota Camry Car, two (2) Cartons of Galantine Dynamite Explosives and Hundred and twenty five (125) Detonators in the boot of the Car in a location in Ikorodu area of Lagos state on his way to link up with the other members of the militant gang to blow up the 3rd mainland bridge.

‘The Suspect, on sighting the Intelligence Response Team Operatives jumped out of the car and escaped into the nearby bush. The explosive devices and the detonators were recovered by the Police IRT operatives and the Explosive Ordinance Department, and the attack that would have been a major devastating and colossus damage to Lagos state and Nigeria was averted.”

The police in a statement by deputy commissioner of police, Don Awunah, said further investigation is being intensified to arrest all the other members of the militant gang still at large.

Police Arrest Suspect Planning To Bomb Third Mainland Bridge

Convoluted and strategic . . . Third Mainland Bridge, the longest bridge in West Africa

The Guardian reports that police authorities in Abuja have foiled suspected attempts by a notorious militant group, operating from the creeks of Ikorodu and Arepo areas of Lagos and Ogun States, to bomb the Third Mainland Bridge, the longest bridge in West Africa.

The Guardian gathered yesterday that a top commander of the group, Abiodun Amos, who is also known as Senti, an Ijaw native of Arugbo, from Ese-Odo Local Council of Ondo State, was arrested by operatives of the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

The suspect, who was also said to be the group’s chief expert in explosives, was trailed to a riverbank at the Majidu area of Ikorodu, Lagos.

Sources disclosed that two AK47 rifles, hidden in a ‘Ghana-Must-Go’ bag, were found in his possession at the time of his arrest, while he led the IRT operatives to a vehicle parked discreetly within Ikorodu, where a large cache of dynamite and detonators were recovered from its boot.

The intelligence, which was generated by the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), was passed on to the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, indicating that the group was at its final stage of carrying out an attack on the Third Mainland Bridge.

The IGP, who was said to be dazed by the report, swiftly directed his operatives at the IRT, led by Abba Kyari, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), to commence a full-scale investigation and it was discovered afterwards that the group was actually planning to blow up the bridge at the end of November 2016.

Further investigation revealed that the group had acquired large quantities of dynamite and several other explosives, which would be used for the attack.

Meanwhile, in October 2016, the group, which has no known identity and was notorious for pipeline vandalism, kidnapping and bank robberies, had demanded amnesty, threatening to disrupt economic activities within Lagos and Ogun States if the Federal Government does not dialogue with them and grant them pipeline protection contracts.

The leader of the militant group, known as General Ossy Ibori, who had in recent time coordinated most of the bank robberies and several high-profile kidnappings, including those of three school girls, at Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School in Ikorodu, four landlords at Isheri North Area of Lagos, Oniba of Ibaland, Oba Goriola Oseni, and several others, within the Lagos and Ogun state‎s axis, boasted that his group has over 21 generals commanding 7,800 battle-ready boys.

When newsmen interviewed the 43-year-old suspect, he confessed that his militant group was formerly into pipeline vandalism but they resorted into kidnapping when it became difficult for them to vandalize and sell their stolen petroleum products.

According to him: “We went into bank robberies and kidnapping because we wanted to get government attention and all we wanted was for them to grant us amnesty and also offer us pipeline protection contract. We have made several appeals and the government is not listening to us.

“General Ossy said if we don’t blow up the Third Mainland Bridge, government would not listen to us. We had concluded plans and we decided to carry out the attack in November ending. I am the group’s explosive expert and before I was arrested we were going into the creek to conclude plans on how to carry out the attack,” he said.