Seized shipment of arms by port officials amplifies fear in Nigeria's volatile region
By blogger
The Nigeria Customs Service had Tuesday announced the interception of a large shipment of arms and munitions at its major port, Tin Can Island.
Though the owner or destination of the large arms cache has not been established, citizens living around the volatile northeast Nigeria where Boko Haram insurgency has claimed well over 100, 000 lives and displaced about 3 million people, said such interception gives them huge worry about safety in the country.
Bashir Ahmed, a businessman in Maiduguri, Borno state, said, "we are disturbed by the news that Customs had seized a large container of arms and ammunition because hundreds of our people have been killed in this armed conflict called Boko Haram".
"We know Boko Haram have some sponsors whom we don't know yet; but for such large number of arms to be intercepted at the port, is a confirmation that some highly placed persons are behind all the armed insurgents all over the country".
He said he wants government to "thoroughly investigate those behind the smuggle of that container load of firearms into the country".
Mr. Ahmed Shehu, head of the Net for Civil Society Organization in Borno state, said the arrest of a container filled with assorted rifles was mindboggling.
"Had this container of arms not been intercepted by the Nigeria customs service, who knows if it would not have reached the northeast to further fuel the armed conflict of Boko Haram. And this is a bid source of worry for us.
"We are worried because we have been at the receiving end of such smuggling of dangerous arms into our country. Hundreds of our people, including those in the military have died because some people are providing arms for insurgents in this country.
"Therefore, from our end as members of the Civil Society the government must ensure that all those involved in the importation of arms should face the full wrath of the law.
"And failure to get the culprits arrested, we in Borno state will come out and protest, because we cannot allow the matter to be swept under the carpet", said Mr. Shehu.
The Nigeria Customs said the seized container was loaded with 440 arms and ammunition of various sizes and designs.
Mr. Monday Abue, Customs Zonal Commander, Tin Can Island Command, said the intercepted container has a registration number PONU 210024/1 that was shipped from Turkey and routed through the Lagos port.
He said document of the illegal shipment declared the content as Plaster of Paris.
The Customs officer said the 440 pieces of pump action rifles found in the container were manufactured in the United States of America and Italy.
"They are pump action rifles of various designs and also the single barrel device that you are familiar with. We have arrested one defendant but due to security reasons, we don't want to make it public for now because such information could hamper investigations which are still ongoing," he added.
He said the illegal arms had almost escaped their scrutiny before it was nabbed.
"The truck carrying the container came out from Ports & Cargo gate before it was stopped at the second gate by Customs officials," the source added.
But the Ports & Cargo Terminal, had through its parent company Sifax Group, denied the claims of the Customs Commander that the confiscated armament was cleared through its terminal.
"Our findings have shown that the said container was released from another terminal and was headed for an Off-Dock terminal before it was intercepted by the Nigerian Customs Service on the port access road close to our terminal" Muyiwa Akande, Corporate Affairs Manager, said.
"Ports & Cargo Terminal doesn't own the access road and how we are linked to this beats our imagination."
Customs Spokesperson at the Tin Can Island Command, Mr. Uche Ejesieme, said the impounded rifles included 100 pieces of black tornado single barrel rifles, 75 pieces of silver magnum single barrel rifles, 50 pieces of altar pump action rifles, 215 pieces of black single barrel rifles among other accessories.
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Abdulkareem Haruna
+2347016614476
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