Anti-bomb unit still investigating Synagogue building collapse -police

 

The Police Anti-Bomb unit has told the Lagos coroner, Magistrate O.A. Komolafe, who is probing the September 12 Synagogue building collapse, that they had yet to conclude investigations into the incident.

About 116 persons died in the collapsed six-storey building belonging to the Synagogue Church Of
All Nations.
The Head of the Nigeria Police Anti-bomb unit and an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Olakunle Olanrewaju, in his testimony at the inquest on Wednesday, disclosed that the police had collected all necessary samples to determine whether a bomb blast was responsible for the collapse of the building.
Olarenwaju affirmed under cross-examination by the counsel for the SCOAN, Mr. Olalekan Ojo, that it was in consonance with the Explosive Ordinance Devices of the Nigeria Police to visit the site of any disaster, if there was any reasonable suspicion that an explosive could  have been responsible for such accident.
He said, “The mission of the EOD team, led by my humble self, was to find out whether or not the building collapsed as a result of the use of explosives. My team collected samples of debris and roofing sheets.
“We were however not able to conduct a post-bast investigation on the site because of the very heavy rescue operation  going on as of the time my team arrived at the collapsed site.
“The post-blast investigation was imperative because it was suspected that a blast might have been used on the collapsed guest house. Infact, my team and I swung into action searching for explosives and power source.
“But we will base our decision on the outcome of the laboratory test to ascertain if the speed with which the building collapsed is consistent with controlled explosion.”
Under cross-examination by the counsel for Lagos State Government, Mr. Akingbola Adeniran, the witness added that his team did not recover any detonator or battery from the collapsed building.
He therefore said it would be best to wait for the lab result on the collected samples before giving any definite position on whether or not the collapse was connected with a bomb blast.

--Punch News