Operatives attached to the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team, led by Assistant Commissioner of Police Abba Kyari, have arrested Abiodun Amos, the arrowhead of a plot to bomb the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos State.
Popularly known as Senti, Amos belongs to a militant group operating in the Ikorodu, Lagos State axis and Arepo in Ogun State.
According to a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Don Awunah, Amos was arrested on November 2, 2016.
Found in his possession at the time of arrest were two AK 47 rifles.
A member of the gang, who is at large, was also in possession of cartons of explosive devices and 125 detonators, which had been recovered by the police.
Awunah said in the statement: “After a painstaking surveillance and monitoring by the police team, the principal suspect Abiodun Amos alias SENTI who is the leader of the Militant Gang planning to bomb the 3rd Mainland Bridge in Lagos was arrested on 2nd of November, 2016 in a hideout at the bank of Majidun River in Ikorodu area of Lagos State and two AK 47 rifles recovered from his possession. 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 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.”
Awunah said 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 Kyari-led IRT operatives on the December 26, 2016 while conveying in a Toyota Camry car two cartons of Galantine Dynamite Explosives and 125 detonators in Ikorodu area of Lagos State on his way to link up with the other members of the militant gang to blow up the Third mainland Bridge.
The suspect, on sighting the IRT operatives, jumped out of the car and escaped into the nearby bush.
Awuna added in the statement on Wednesday: “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. Further investigation is being intensified to arrest all the other members of the militant gang still at large.”
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