The suspect who detonated an explosive device near the state-owned Presidential Hotel during a pro-police protest in Port Harcourt on Tuesday has been arrested, according to Rivers State Government.

Commissioner for health, Dr Adaeze Oreh, announced this on Tuesday night, saying the man was rushed to the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital for treatment by his friends who are now at large.

She explained that those who brought the man to the facility claimed that he was involved in a road accident when he arrived at the hospital.

Earlier, Oreh alerted management of both public and private medical facilities in the state on the identity of the suspect, injury signs and the need to detain him if found.

Oreh urged them to look out for “a young man with a traumatically dismembered upper limb”.

Later in the day, the commissioner said, “Following that call, our medical facilities in the state were on a heightened sense of alert and so when a young man was brought to the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital with alleged injury sustained during what was said to be a road traffic accident the medical personnel that were on hand to examine him and offer care were on alert.

“And immediately recognised that the injuries seen on this individual were not in tandem with a road traffic accident, but rather resemble injuries that would have come from a blast.

“The individual was taken to the theatre for immediate resuscitation because as of the time he was brought in he was semi-conscious.

“The medical personnel did the needful and immediately informed the Rivers State Government. Immediately informed the Commissioner for Police and the Rivers State Ministry of Health about the presence of that individual in the facility even when providing emergency medical care to revive and resuscitate him.”

The commissioner, however, disclosed that the suspect is now stable after receiving medical attention at the facility, saying, “We are working with the Rivers State Police Command and so the Hospital has been fully secured, the premises and the perimeter have been fully secured.

“The patient is undergoing medical treatment. He is stable and the police are doing their own part in carrying out the necessary investigations.

“And so in this manner, we just seek to inform the public that this is the update following the earlier incident of today in Port Harcourt.”

The police have yet to confirm the development.