A few hours before the planned nationwide hunger protest, the Police on Wednesday defused an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at the fence of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service on Bank Anthony Way, Ikeja, Lagos.
The 10-day protest, organized to start from August 1 and end on August 10, 2024, faced a critical incident when an IED was allegedly dropped by a yet-to-be-identified person who drove to the spot in a car and sped off immediately after placing the device.
According to reports, the suspects were first sighted by a police officer attached to the Explosive Ordinance Depot (EOD) Base in Ikeja. A police source said the officer saw a man in an unregistered Toyota Corolla car parked close to the entrance of the PMF 23 barracks along Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Ikeja.
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Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Adegoke Fayoade, confirmed the incident to our correspondent. Speaking through the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, Fayoade said the officer who sighted the suspect is attached to the Police Explosives Ordinance Depot (EOD) base in Ikeja.
The Lagos State Police boss described the incident: “The officer sighted a young man alighting from the car and carefully dropping a bag by the side of the FOU Zone A fence. The young man then returned to his car and sped off.
“Based on the report, a team of EOD-CBRN experts from the base quickly mobilized to the scene to identify the object. On arrival, it was confirmed that the item was indeed an IED. Subsequently, the area was cordoned off, and the IED was rendered safe and thereafter detonated accordingly. Meanwhile, the remnants of the IED were collected for further analysis and investigation,” he added.
