The Akwa Ibom State Police Command on Thursday said it had foiled an attempt by two ex-militants to blow up Calabar/Itu Bridge on October 5.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Gabriel Achong, disclosed this at a press conference in Uyo.
Achong said on September 20, the command received intelligence report that a group of aggrieved militants were planning to blow up the bridge.
He said the police, in collaboration with the Department of State Security and the Army, traced the suspects from Odukpani in Cross River State to Itu bridge where they were arrested.
He said: “On September 20, the command received information that a group of aggrieved militants planned to blow up the Calabar/Itu Bridge.
“Upon thorough and intensive surveillance, on October 5, the two suspects were arrested.
“The suspects are Samuel Coleman Yaw, a Ghanaian resident in Bakassi Local Government, and Mr. Monday Anthony of Ikang village also in Bakassi.”
Achong, however, said that the mastermind, Boronyefa Olorogun, alias General Bofa, who escaped, was traced to Yenagoa in Bayelsa State and arrested by a combined team of the police and DSS on October 17.
Achong said six (Super power 90) explosives, five blasting laps, three rolls of detonating cords and one Honda Accord 1997 model were recovered from the suspects.
The police commissioner said the command also arrested two sea pirates, Victor Godbless and Umjiejong Jonah, natives of Ngo town in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers on September 30.
He said the pirates were arrested through a tip off by residents of Ndito Eka Iba village, a coastal town in Mbo LGA in Akwa Ibom State.
He listed the items recovered from them to include two engines (one 200HP and one 75H), two live 7.65mm ammunition and dismantled parts of a pump action gun.
The commissioner appealed to the public to be vigilant and volunteer information to the police to enable them rid the society of criminals.