Civil war explosive found in Ebonyi community – Police

Civil war explosive found in Ebonyi community – Police

An object that caused panic in Ebonyi State has been found to be a landmine from the Nigerian civil war that ended 47 years ago, the police have stated.

When the object was discovered at a river bank in Onu Ezeukwu Uzor, Okposi, in Ohaozara Local Government Area of the state, residents fled the community as they suspected it was an improvised explosive device, IED, recently planted to cause havoc.

But the fears were allayed on Monday after an analysis by the police bomb squad revealed the object was a civil war relic.

The spokesperson of the police in the state, Jude Madu, said the object was taken for examination at the Police forensic headquarters in Abuja.

“The Police Command on getting the information immediately went to the area and collected the object and took it to our Forensic headquarters in Abuja for analysis”, Mr. Madu said.

“The analysis has been concluded and from our findings, it was one of those landmines that was planted during the civil war. Our headquarters have directed that it should be destroyed and it has been destroyed by our bomb section”.

He said the police had combed adjoining areas for more of the objects but had discovered none.

“We have conducted a search to know if similar objects can be found in the area and every other parts of the state and we have not seen any other one.

“Some of these things couldn’t detonate in their time. This particular landmine fell into the river and the river continued to move it round until it got to the river bank and somebody saw it and alerted the police. So, it was not a planted bomb,” Mr. Madu said.

Residents of the area had scampered for safety following the discovery of the object.

It was gathered that some of the residents had relocated from the area for fear there could be other suspected bombs in the community.

Some members of the community on Monday called on the police bomb team to visit the area to ascertain there were no more such objects around their community.