Police destroy explosives recovered in Niger, assure residents of safety

Niger State Police Command has destroyed Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) recovered from different locations during multiple counter-insurgency operations with other security agencies in the state between 2021 to 2023.

The Commissioner of Police (CP), Shawulu Ebenezer Danmamman, said the destruction was to ensure a safer and more secure environment in the state.

The CP, in a statement yesterday signed by the command’s spokesperson, SP Wasiu Abiodun, said the items include four pipe-borne IEDs buried in the ground recovered at Galadima-Kogo, Shiroro Local Council on September 27, 2021; explosives concealed in empty shells of suspected military missiles and 5kg cooking gas cylinders recovered at Mutun-Daya, in Shiroro Local Council on February 11, 2022; explosives hidden in a 10-litre jerrycan, three pieces of suspected military hand grenades and a bow-shaped improvised material recovered at the Gbeganu area of Minna on October 24, 2023.

According to him, the successful destruction took place on August 22, at a location behind Zuma Rock, Suleja, led by SP Mohammed Mamun, the Officer in Charge of the EOD-CBRN (Explosive Ordnance Disposal-Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear) Unit of the Command.

Similarly, the command revealed that on August 14, based on credible information received, police operatives attached to the Intelligence Department of the Command recovered an abandoned AK-49 rifle in the Kaffin-koro area of the state.