What would have resulted into a major tragedy was today averted by alert men of the Nigeria Police force who promptly detonated a high caliber Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) packaged in a polythene bag and dropped by an okada man at the ever busy Sultan Road/Sir Kashim Road in Kaduna North Local Government Area of Kaduna, North-West Nigeria.

Kaduna Police Public Relations Officer, SP Aminu Lawan, confirmed the incident.

According to him, “We got a distress call that a suspected polythene bag containing a questionable substance was dropped by a moving okada man, so we quickly ordered our Anti-Bomb Squad team to the area.

“The area was immediately cordoned off when it was discovered that the polythene bag contained high caliber IEDs, and our Anti Bomb Squad were able to successfully detonate the IEDs and the area was immediately brought under control.

“As I speak to you now, the area is calm and people are already going about their normal activities. Meanwhile, effort to apprehend the suspect is on top gear.”

SP Lawan also said that police surveillance and investigation personnel are already all over the place to monitor movements of persons with questionable character within the area, but advised that people should be more vigilant.

Our correspondent who visited the scene reports that prior to the detonation of the bomb, there was pandemonium within the area as people hurriedly closed their shops, while vehicles took to other routes.

It was also observed that several vehicles ran into each other in an attempt to escape, causing temporary traffic before the situation was brought under control.

An eye witnesses said efforts were made to apprehend the suspect who dropped the polythene bag containing the IEDs but he had left before it was discovered.

“When we saw the suspected polythene bag, we tried to see if we can catch up with the okada man that dropped it but he had ran far away and we could not catch up with him, it was then we called the police and it was discovered that it was an IEDs that was contained in the polythene bag,” he said.

•Photo shows Kaduna State Police Commissioner, Umar Shehu.

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