Police defuse bomb in Rivers banana farm Our Reporter August 16, 2012 1 Comment »
The police in Rivers State said they have defused an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in the state-owned banana farm at Ueken in Tai Local Government Area of the state.
Mr. Ben Ugwuegbulam, the spokesmanfor the police command, stated this in Port Harcourt yesterday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He said the command had swept and secured the banana farm, adding that unknown persons might have planted the IED to scare workers from the plantation.
Ugwuegbulam said the Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU) of the command had swung into action on receiving the information and defused the IED successfully.
He said there was no casualty and thatthe incident occurred on Wednesday, August 15.
NAN learnt that the state government had acquired the land to establish a banana farm in collaboration with a Mexican firm last year. The acquisition of the land had been causing misunderstanding in the community, as some persons alleged that government did not pay compensationafter taking over their land. Meanwhile, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor of Rivers State, David Iyofor has said that there was no bomb explosion in Banana Plantation in Tai Rivers State.
He said: “Our attention has been drawn to reports of a purported bomb explosion at the Banana Plantation in Tai, Rivers State. “We must state categorically that there was no bomb explosion at or within the perimeters of the banana farm plantation.
“We are aware that some sort of device went off but this was some reasonable distance away from our plantation and certainly not within theperimeters of the farm. “Journalists should please always crosscheck and double-check whatever information they have before going to press. “Again, we want to reassure all and sundry that Rivers State remains safe, conducive and open for business,” David Iyofor said.