Policemen arrested over missing firecrackers from sealed warehouse

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested the team of policemen on duty when the stockpile of fireworks at a sealed warehouse in Oke-Arin Market vanished.
PUNCH Metro had reported on Monday that following firecrackers explosions in Jankara Market last Wednesday, the police had sealed off some warehouses on Lagos Island.
However, the contents of one of the warehouses in Oke-Arin Market vanished on Friday.
A police source, who craved anonymity, told our correspondent that the policemen had been arrested and had written statements.
The source said the policemen confessed that they allowed the owner of the goods to take them based on the orders of a senior officer.
He said, “The men have been arrested but it is really not a big deal. Traders, whose shops were sealed off, were allowed to take their goods. It’s not only firecrackers but dealers in other goods were allowed to take their items as well.
“The order we were given was to make sure that the sale of firecrackers was prohibited and that is what we are doing.”
The source added that the police were not really after the owner of the firecrackers that caused the wanton destruction in the market rather, the person that started the fire.
He said, “The owner of the firecrackers at 45, Ojo Giwa Street, where the fire started, cannot be charged with either murder or arson. The owner neither killed anybody nor destroy properties. The person that we should be looking for is the person that started the fire.
“Law on the use of explosives is hardly enforced in Nigeria and it’s not conclusive that is why lawmakers in the state House of Assembly are trying to review the law on indiscriminate use and storage of fireworks.”
When contacted, the spokesperson for the state police command, Ngozi Braide, denied the development.
“I just spoke with the Divisional Police Officer, Adeniji Adele, and he denied it, saying the incident never happened,” she said.
Braide said efforts were being made to locate the owner of the firecrackers which caused the explosions.