In a statement, the command said that the incident took place at about 11.00 am. When word reached Muktari Ibrahim, the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 10, and the Sokoto State Police Commissioner, they sent a team of bomb disposal experts to the scene.
“The polythene bag was located, scientifically examined and found to be containing high calibre Improvised Explosive Devices (IED),” the statement said, and the police personnel “carried out a controlled detonation of the explosives.”
Full text of the statement:
POLICE AVERTS BOMB BLAST IN SOKOTO,
The Sokoto State Police Command today, 8th August, 2012 averted what would have been another major disaster in the ancient Caliphate city of Sokoto, when at about 11.00am, an unknown person riding an unregistered motor cycle, discretely dropped a black polythene bag at the Secretariat of one of Nigeria’s leading political parties.
Information about the presence of this strange object was promptly relayed to the Police Authority in the state by a patriotic and civic-minded citizen. The Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 10- AIG Muktari Ibrahim and the Commissioner of Police in charge of the state immediately deployed a combined team of police men from the bomb Disposal Unit to the area.
The quick response of the police operatives saved the day. The polythene bag was located, scientifically examined and found to be containing high calibre Improvised Explosive Devices (IED).
Personnel of the Police Bomb Disposal Unit thereafter carried out a controlled detonation of the explosives. No body was harmed and there was no casualty of any kind. The vicinity of the Party’s Secretariat was meticulously combed, to be sure of its safety and those of members of the public.
By SaharaReporters, New York
