Akwa Ibom police ‘foil’ attempt to bomb bridge

The Akwa Ibom state police command on Thursday said it foiled an attempt by two ex-militants to blow up the Calabar/Itu bridge on October 5.

Disclosing this at a press conference in Uyo, Gabriel Achong, the commissioner of police in the state, said that on September 20, the command received intelligence report that a group of aggrieved militants were planning to bomb the bridge.

He said the police, in collaboration with the state security service and the army, traced the suspects from Odukpani in Cross River to Itu bridge, where they were arrested.

“On September 20, the command received information that a group of aggrieved militants planned to blow up the Calabar/Itu Bridge,” he said.

“Upon thorough and intensive surveillance, on October 5, the two suspects were arrested.

He gave the names of the suspects as Samuel Coleman Yaw, a Ghanaian resident in Bakassi local government and Monday Anthony of Ikang village, also in Bakassi.

He said the mastermind of the  bomb attempt, Boronyefa Olorogun alias General Bofa, escaped on the day but was traced to Yenagoa in Bayelsa and arrested by a combined team of police and DSS on October 17.

Achong said six (Super power 90) explosives, five blasting laps, three rolls of detonating cords and 1 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.

He listed the items recovered from them to include 2 engines (one 200HP and one 75H); 2 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.