Young man strapped with IED enters Jos bank, threatens to detonate

Young man strapped with IED enters Jos bank, threatens to detonate

Story from Ahmad AYUBA

The Plateau State Police Command has arrested a young man with Improvised Explosive Device (IED) strapped to his body in a Jos bank.

The suspect, whose identity is yet to be unveiled, allegedly sneaked into a branch of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) in Dadinkowa, Jos South local government area with the IED, demanding N100m to stop him from detonating it.

In a blow-by-blow account of the incident, an official of the bank who did not want his name in print told Daily Trust that the suspect went into the banking hall of the branch when staff were attending to customers.

According to the source, the suspect approached a frontline teller, pretending to withdraw money, but instead dropped a note to the attendant warning that an IED was strapped to his body which he would detonate if his demand was not met.

“Understanding the demand of the suspect, the bank teller quickly communicated the situation to his supervisor who promptly alerted bank security to open the emergency exit for people to run. Thereafter, customers were alerted to leave the banking hall for their safety.”

“Realising that customers had started running out of the back, he also joined them but was arrested by the bank security guards who later called in Anti-bomb squad. On their arrival, they took him to Rantya police station for further investigation,” the official narrated.

The official opined that the suspect was able to enter the bank because the IED strapped to his body was a fake one, because the Mantrap door would have detected it if it were real.

Observers are describing the story as depicting the increasingly level of poverty and desperation among the nation’s youth. To some others, the story strikes like a new dimension to the crime patterns in the country appears like a scene from western, American thrillers or movies.