Ololade Adeyanju/
Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has disclosed how citizens information helped in foiling attempt by terrorists to bomb Lagos in 2013.
The minister said the terrorists had evaded the security agencies and successfully smuggled 17 suitcases loaded with explosives into the state before the plot was detected through information provided by citizens.
Fashola, who was governor at the time, made the disclosure in an address he delivered at the fourth annual public lecture of the United Action for Change, in Lagos yesterday.
The minister emphasised that the collection of information to prevent crime should never be left to law enforcement agencies alone.
He said, “It is when information is offered that law enforcement must act to check, recheck and verify. So, when 17 suitcases loaded with explosives were brought into Lagos in 2013, law enforcement missed it.
“It was citizen information, which we did not discard that led to their seizure, apprehension of the suspects and their cargo of terror.
“They were tried in Lagos without public show. That was the period new courts were being built in Badagry and we prosecuted them there. They were given a fair trial because they had lawyers representing them.
“They were over 20 and were convicted and this enabled government put them in a place where they could no longer harm residents of Lagos.”
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