2 Bomb Factories Discovered In Kogi

August 22, 2012 – 2 Bomb Factories Discovered In Kogi

Kogi state Police command said they have discovered two major bomb-production factories in Abu Limit Estate and Eyika Adagu in Okene and Okehi Local Government Areas of the state.

Police commissioner Mohammed Katsina who took journalists round the crude factories said they were discovered following information provided by the arrested leader of the 21-man gang who masterminded the church attack in the state.

According to him, items recovered from the factories included seven AK 47 rifles, 1,000 live ammunition, 29 loaded magazines, six locally made pistols, gas cylinders, two rocket launchers and other bomb making components.

He said that after the attack on the soldiers at Okene Local Government Secretariat on 7 August, the police got the information that the suspects were at a training camp at Etar Hill, planning another attack.

He further said that the police mobilised officers to the hill and engaged them in gun battle, adding that some of the gunmen were injured in the operation while others escaped to a farm settlement.

Katsina said that the suspected gang leader was arrested behind banana trees at a farm settlement in Ulowo, Ondo State, after an exchange of gun shots in which he sustained serious injuries.

Meanwhile, additional eight suspects have been arrested in connection with the killings of 19 worshippers at Deeper Life Bible Church, Okene, on Aug. 6.

Katsina, however, said that two of the suspects had died in custody.

He said that police arrested two of the suspects in a bus on Murtala Mohammad Bridge, Jamata, Lokoja, on their way to the state from one of the neighbouring states.

Katsina said that the arrested persons were suspected to be among the attackers of the church, who were re-grouping after the attack.

The police commissioner also said that the attackers hatched their plot to attack the church and Okene Local Government Secretariat at their hideout in the Eyika Adagu area of the local government.

“Three persons each were detailed to attack the church and the soldier respectively; the pastor was the target of the attack but because of confusion as they entered the church, they were shooting sporadically.’’

He said that the gang also confessed that they had planned to launch another attack on August 19, to disrupt the services and the Eid-el-Fitri celebration before the arrest of its leader.

On August 13, the police had announced that 16 suspects had been arrested in connection with the killings.