20120407
AFP
Nigerian authorities have recovered a cache of arms, including explosives and rocket launchers, in two separate raids in the restive northern city of Gombe and arrested six suspects, a senior official said.

"Following weeks of surveillance we gathered enough intelligence information on the hoodlums which led to the raids that led to the recovery of the weapons in the two hideouts," secret police chief Bitrus Asha told reporters late Thursday outside the house where the bombs were found.

"We recovered among other things 60 improvised explosive devices in soft drink cans, 48 bags of ammonia nitrate fertilizer and other chemicals for bomb-making and detonating cables," he said.

He said five suspects were arrested during that raid and another one during a second raid.

Asha added that 51 rocket launchers were found in the second raid on a house in the Barunde surburb of the city.

He could not say if the suspects were from the Boko Haram Islamist sect that has carried out a series of deadly attacks in the city, including the February bombing and shooting attacks on a police station that killed 14 people.

The military joint task force deployed in central Kogi state said Friday it had found a bomb factory operated by Boko Haram at the town of Ogaminana, the second one in two weeks.

"The discovery of the bomb factory followed information extracted from one of the suspects arrested in the previous operation," military chief Major-General Alphonsus Chukwu said.

"The suspect led security operatives to this place and we discovered that the rooms were being used for the manufacture of bombs and other explosive devices," he said, showing reporters the factory.

He said locally made bombs, guns, gas cylinders, aerosol cans, metal detectors, bullet-proof vests, police and military uniforms were also recovered during the raid.

Two weeks ago, security agents discovered a bomb-making factory in the town of Okene that led to the killing of nine suspected sect members and the arrest of several others.

Nigeria has stepped up security across the country to forestall any attacks by Boko Haram during the Easter festivities.