‘Militants Use Dynamites on Drilling Site’
From Ahamefula Ogbu in Port Harcourt, 07.25.2007
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Police in Rivers State have said that militants in the Niger Delta were using improvised explosive devices to carry out attacks and explained that it was the deadly device that was used to raid Lone Star Drilling in Soku, where four expatriates were kidnapped and a mobile policeman killed.
Briefing newsmen yesterday in Port Harcourt, over several arrests made where the militants worked explosives into some cans of soft drinks, so that they are easily carried without arousing suspicion.
Police revealed this when it stormed Soku after the attack on the Company drilling an oil well for Shell Petroleum DevelopmentCompany (SPDC) on July 4, 2007.They said their men rushed to the scene, recovered seven home made bombs and several shells of expended 7.62mm AK 47 riffle ammunition.
On closer examination, high explosives were repackaged into cans which gave insight into how the explosives were abused in the region. “Physical examination of the home made bombs showed that HighExplosive (HE) had been repackaged into empty cans of power horse and red bull energy drinks. The centre body of each of the cans has an opening into which plain detonator duly encapsulated with safety-fuse was firmly inserted into the High Explosive," IrejuBarasua, the State Police Public Relations Officer said. Other suspects paraded at the briefing include, Friday John and Legbosi Needam, who were apprehended with firearms and dynamite, and four suspects arrested on July 18, 2007, at Oduoha junction for being in possession of dynamites. They are Kingsley Moses, Ntana Festus, Tammy Nyefibo and Godsgift Zephania, caught with electric detonator.Some of them owned up to being in possession of the dynamites, but explained that they used them for fishing, even though it had been outlawed for that purpose.Obey Court Orders, Okiro tells Police
From Funmi Peter-Omale in Abuja Acting Inpsector-General of Police, Mike Okiro, has charged men and officers of the NIgeria Police Force to ensure strict compliance to court orders and rulings henceforth, saying the era of flagrant disobedience of the rule of law was over.Okiro, at a retreat for all Police Operations Officers yesterday, cautioned officers that he would no longer tolerate any act of disobedience to court orders from any of them, adding that any officer found wanting in this regard would be made to face disciplinary action.While saying that the police could not afford to disappoint the country at this crucial time, he said all hands must be on deck to give the nation the type of policing it needed, adding that the force under him, was poised to enforce human rights."Let me use this opportunity to let all of us know that we are poised to enforce human rights to the letter, and we are asking all commands to ensure strict compliance with orders from courts of competent jurisdiction.”In his key note address, Okiro said he would not compromise anything that could truncate the success of the programme, adding that the two major problems threatening the nation’s democracy were illegal proliferation of arms and crime., which the workshop was put together to find a lasting solution to.
He said, “I would not fail to mention that this workshop is very timely at this period of our national history. This is because law, order, peace and security are matters of state responsibility. The need for enforcement of national laws, in terms of ensuring respect for the law and of the consequences for offences against those laws are reasons for the establishment of law enforcement agencies. "Therefore, Nigeria police as the principal law enforcement agency has to rise to the occasion by drawing up a modus operandi for a crime prevention campaign in the country," he said.
