Heavy weapons including 60 explosives and 51 improvised rocket launchers were recovered in two separate raids in Gombe yesterday, which security agencies said were to be used in attacks during the Easter holidays.
Six suspects were also arrested during the joint operations by the military and the State Security Service in the British Cotton Ginnery Area (BCGA) and Barunde quarters in the state capital.
In the first raid conducted from around 12pm, 60 improvised explosive devices packed in cans and ready for detonation were found at a house at the BCGA area, state SSS director Bitrus Asha told journalists in Gombe yesterday.
Soon after, security men found a warehouse with a large cache of heavy explosives at an uncompleted 2-room house at Burunde quarters in the outskirts of the city.
Weapons recovered there included 51 improvised rocket launchers with grenades, 48 bags of fertilizers, chemical substances and accessories used for making improvised explosive devices.
Also seized were detonating wires, firing cables, timers, codes and manuals with chemicals such as a sulphuric acids, ammonium nitrates and ethanol.
A commander in the security team that conducted the operations told reporters that they received intelligence information about plans by the arrested men and accomplices to launch a major attack from Friday to Monday in Gombe, targeting the military base, police and SSS headquarters and other security formations.
He said while security men succeeded in arresting some of them, their ring leader, one Garba Sani alias Yellow, and two others were still at large.
Our correspondent reports that the 60 explosives were detonated by bomb experts in a bush near the FCE roundabout.
The SSS director said investigation would continue to unravel sponsors of the arrested men, and urged people to be more interested in what happens in their neighbourhoods.
“It’s either the neighbours don’t know or they have compromised,” he said. “As you can see, there are a lot of explosives, numbering about 60 prepared in tins, ready for detonation.”
Asked if the suspects were attempting to detonate the bombs somewhere, Asha said: “definitely, going by experiences, they were meant to be detonated definitely and we have information on that plan.”
He said it was too early to know who they were but that they were hoodlums who never wanted peace to exist in the state.
But suspicion immediately fell on the Boko Haram sect, whose followers claimed responsibility for gun raids in Gombe on February 24, during which 12 people were killed and a police divisional office was destroyed.
Meanwhile, security has been beefed within and around the city as checkpoints have been increased with stop-and-search operations being conducted. Also, movement around the police and SSS headquarters were restricted after 6pm.
More bombs found in Kogi
The Joint Task Force in Kogi State yesterday said it discovered another bomb factory at ogaminana, the headquarters of Adavi Local Government Area, following information from one of arrested suspects.
Commander of Command of Army Records, Major General Alphonsus Chukwu, while conducting newsmen round the location, said one of those arrested during the previous operations led the security operatives to the place behind a primary school at Ogaminana.
He said they discovered that the rooms were being used for the manufacture of bombs and other explosive devices.
Chukwu said the Boko Haram sect had planned to launch attacks in the state during the Easter period.
He said no arrest was made in the latest operation.
The items recovered during the operation were metal detectors, police bullet-proof vests, cans of insecticide, gas cylinder, guns, cans of already made bombs, and some police and army uniforms.
