Boko Haram Suspect: We Were Sent to Bomb Lagos Airport
- Others deployed to Apapa, Lagos Island
- Insurgents kill 10 in Borno villages
The physically challenged 22-year-old suspect who was caught with canisters around his neck, in his confession, told security operatives that his two other colleagues were assigned the task of bombing Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), as well as the densely populated Lagos Island and Apapa areas of the megacity.
Security source, who spoke exclusively to THISDAY, said the suspect (name withheld) had confessed that he alongside several others were recruited from Niger Republic and were trained extensively before their deployment.
He also said the plot to bomb Lagos would not be simultaneously done, a clear deviation from the planned simultaneous attacks last year March, when the sect tried to bomb various designated places across the state
at the same time.
According to him, the attempt by the physically-challenged suspect was the first attempt to bomb Lagos after the twin bomb blasts in Apapa two months ago that claimed no fewer than five persons including the suicide bomber.
A security official, who spoke to THISDAY on the strict condition of anonymity, said the attempt would have been successful but for the inability of the explosives to detonate when they were supposed to.
He said: “He was caught because when he tried to set off the explosives, there was a hitch. He ran back to an obscure place to check it out and fix it.
His suspicious movement and the frustration evident on his face excited the suspicion of security operatives attached to NAMA.”
Also speaking, another source from the state security department said already, investigations had kicked off in full gear to round up other suspects who were said to have been deployed to wreak havoc in the state.
The suspect was arrested at the NAMA annex facility, known as CENTREX, about 300 meters from the international terminal of the airport, opposite the airport cathedral.
THISDAY learnt that the suspect was making frantic phone calls, and looked frustrated and restless.
His mannerism and slovenly conduct excited the suspicion of security personnel who were watching him and subsequently arrested him.
He was taken to the MMIA police station at Beesam junction.
Shortly after his arrest, the police had initially pleaded for more time to undertake the investigation to confirm the identity and mission of the suspect.
The police also said that the suspected explosive device found on the suspect would be examined and confirmed later, adding that it would be hasty to describe it as an explosive.
A police officer, however, described the device found on the suspect as locally made explosives.
Reacting to the incident, the General Manager, Public Affairs of NAMA, Supo Atobatele, said the suspect was within the vicinity of the airport making phone calls along the Airport Road when the agency’s security personnel accosted him.
He said his incoherent explanation excited further suspicion, especially with the suspicious looking canisters on his person.
“The attention of NAMA has been drawn to insinuations that a suspected suicide bomber was arrested at one of the agency’s facilities at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Monday.
“The basic truth however is that the said suspect was on the ground making phone calls along the Airport Road close to CENTREX, an annex office of NAMA when the agency’s security personnel accosted him.
“His incoherent explanation exposed him to the security personnel who later found on him some devices suspected to be explosives. He was subsequently handed over to the Airport Police Command for further investigation.
“The Managing Director, Ibrahim Abdulsalam, in reaction, commended the security personnel for their vigilance and prompt arrest of the suspect,” Atobatele said in a statement.
The suspect who wore brown shorts and a white T-shirt was prevented from speaking to reporters about his mission to the airport.
But another policeman told THISDAY that the suspect was not willing to talk initially, having concealed his age but later said that his father was from Kano while his mother was from Cameroun and that he lived in Nasarawa quarters in Kano.
Yet, another senior security official with one of the aviation agencies told THISDAY that enquiries had revealed that the suspect was from Niger Republic, arrived Lagos on Sunday and was asking people for the location of the airport before he was arrested.
