STAN OKENWA
Eagle-eyed operatives of the TinCan Port Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in Lagos, has intercepted arms and ammunitions, allegedly imported into Nigeria from the United States of America.
Explaining the details of the seizures, Customs Area Controller of Tin Can Port, Comptroller Bashir Yussuf said the interception was made since Thursday 30th December 2015 but the handing over to the relevant agencies is coming now because we have concluded investigations on it.
The seized items included a Tauris pistol 709 slim with number THX43606, 980 rounds of 9mm live ammunitions, camouflage items including; face cap, belt, hand gloves, army coloured plastic container and a pair of black cover shoes. The items were concealed in a forty foot container with number CLHU452754/2 alongside two cars and other personal effects.
While handing over the seized items to the Directorate of State Security (DSS) at Tin Can Ports, Yussuf explained that the items fall under absolute prohibitions which could only be imported by the military.
He revealed that a suspect was arrested in connection with the seizure and he is in custody of the DSS for further investigation on how he got the lethal imports and if there are collaborators outside Nigeria.
In an exclusive chat, the Customs boss maintained that ”These type of imports can only come from the military, so we believe there must be a sinister reason for their import, the container has been seized and it is with our enforcement unit, a suspect has been arrested”
“This consignment comes from the United State of America, and in customs clearance, whoever is the first touch of the container is a suspect, the items were concealed among other personal effects including two cars” “980 of these ammunitions can pull everybody in Tin Can out if it’s one per person, and the noise of one is big enough, and we have 980 illegally brought in” he said. According to him, there is an extant universal law governing movement of arms and ammunitions and that no unauthorized persons should trade in arms and ammunitions in cross border trade.
In his response while receiving the items, the head of Directorate of the State Security Service at Tin Can Island Port, Mr. James Udoh, said that security should be the business of every Nigerian. He said that the DSS in collaboration with customs, police and other security agencies have been working to protect the country from influx of prohibited items.
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