Some staff members of the global electronics maker, LG Electronics, at Abule Osun, Trade Fair, Lagos State were apprehended for allegedly stealing some foreign currencies belonging to their employers after a fire engulfed the store in the early hours of Sunday.
Goods worth billions of naira were destroyed in the incident that started some minutes past midnight.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency in a statement through its Head of Public Affairs Unit, Nosa Okunbor, stated that the agency received distress calls through its toll-free emergency lines at 12:15 am, with fire officials arriving 25 minutes later to extinguish the blaze.
Okunbor noted that the fire affected “equipment, small forklifts, household goods/gadgets, including TVs, refrigerators, and air conditioners, estimated to be worth hundreds of billions of naira.”
The statement added that the fire “has been contained” in collaboration with other emergency responders.
“The major warehouse has been severely damaged by the fire. However, through the effective collaborative efforts of the agency’s LRT, LRU Fire Unit, the Lagos State Fire & Rescue Service, the Federal Fire Service, and other primary responders, the fire has been contained and prevented from spreading to adjacent structures, including other warehouses, a gas station, diesel tankers, expatriate quarters, and other adjoining buildings,” the statement added.
During a visit to the store, our correspondent saw a number of workers outside the premises while a thick smoke billowed from the inside.
An attempt made to gain entry was however resisted by soldiers who were stationed at the gate.
One of the workers who spoke to PUNCH Metro on the condition of anonymity for security purposes said a combined team of police and military men was deployed to the scene of the incident due to reports of theft by some of the workers.
He said, “We were in the store when some of our colleagues alerted us that a fire had started in a part of the store. We started looking for a way to stop the fire at that moment. While some of us were doing that, a few others broke into the offices and started stealing foreign currencies from our employers.”
Our correspondent observed the security operatives searching the workers as they exited the gate.
Some of the alleged perpetrators caught in the act were however being interrogated by soldiers at the entrance of the gate.
One of those arrested and identified simply as Ali Baba was seen being held by his trousers and briefly led outside the gate by the soldiers to identify some other suspects who were involved in the act.
“Ali Baba has been with the company for over a decade. He has a very close relationship with his employers. He was very young and it has been about 10 years when he arrived here before he rose to the position of a supervisor. The way he was handled by the soldiers showed he is among those held by the officers,” a customer who bought scraps from the warehouse told our correspondent.
It was gathered that the fire spread due to lack of water on the premises.
An eyewitness who gave his name as Usman Shehu said, “We are yet to know where the fire came from. But the moment we sighted it in one of the production lines, we ran to check if there was water but we could not find any. This place was built by the BHM and they ran a series of pipes that supply water around the warehouse. But when the incident happened, even our employers tried to check if there was water but could not find any.”
A source at the LASEMA confirmed to our correspondent that officials of the agency discovered that there was no fire hydrant on the premises of the warehouse.
“We discovered that the warehouse did not have a fire hydrant and that was why the fire festered to that extent. I am also not sure if they have any safety protocols, but we will get to know that once I get more updates from the Public Affairs office.”
No fewer than 100 40-foot containers were said to have delivered electronic appliances into the warehouse about four days ago.
While giving another update before this report was filed, LASEMA revealed that the inferno spread throughout the entire warehouse consisting of six assembly lines.
Okunbor noted that pockets of fire and extreme heat were still prevalent at the warehouse while cautious operation and dampening down were ongoing.
