The police in Edo have arrested three suspected manufacturers of Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at Ukugbe-Iddo, Okpella in Etsako East LGA of the state.
The suspects are Idris Ibrahim, Zainab Ibrahim and Oyeza Abdul.
Parading the suspects, the Commissioner of Police, Babatunde Johnson Kokumo, said the leader of the gang, Ibrahim Abdulmalik, is still at large and that the police are on his trail.
He said the suspects who were arrested on January 14, at Okugbe in Okpella were members of a criminal gang that specialised in the assemblage of components of explosive devices.
He said the community got to know of it when one of the prepared IED exploded by accident and chopped-off the lower lib of one of the gang members identified as Sanusi, who later died.
According to him, the gang leader, Idris Abdulmalik, said to be an indigene of Kogi State, is on the run while Idris Ibrahim, Zainab Ibrahim and Oyeza Abdul, also from Kogi State were arrested.
He explained that Abdulmalik is of the same parent with Idris Ibrahim while Oyeza is the latter’s wife.
Kokumo said some of the recovered arms and ammunition have been identified to be police property, snatched from policemen by armed gang, adding that some of the recovered IEDs, which have the potential of immediate explosion, have been destroyed.
Speaking with journalists, Abdulmalik’s wife, Oyeza Abdul, said she was not aware that her husband was into bomb making.
“I know him to be a driver and I know that he has a room where nobody is allowed to enter. When I saw him with bag containing plastics, I asked what was inside but he told me it was not his own. It was when the bomb exploded that I knew he was into bomb making,” she said.
The commissioner of police, however called on the public to be vigilant and report any suspicious movement to the police.
He said items recovered were: a Toyota saloon car, one rocket propelled grenade without launcher, one pistol with seven rounds of 9mm ammunition, two riot guns, four smoke pistols, 23 empty fire extinguishers, 18 plastic bottles of prepared IEDs, 21 expended cartridges, 17 pieces of pipe, two timer clocks, four remote control panels and switches, two gallons of gun powder and chemicals among others.
