The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has intercepted a cache of arms and ammunition valued at N270 million at Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.
The Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, announced this through a statement from Customs spokesman Abdullahi Maiwada in Lagos on Wednesday.
The intercepted consignment, found at the cargo section of the airport, was imported from Turkey, and one suspect has been detained.
The Customs head disclosed that military hardware and accoutrements were also seized by the airport command.
He said, “You may recall that the Customs recently impounded 11 rifles and six pistols, among other items. Similarly, just two days ago, a press briefing of this kind was held in Port Harcourt, where we showcased the seizure of 844 rifles and 112,500 rounds of ammunition.”
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Adeniyi added, “On June 19, we deployed our personnel to man all the exit points effectively and mandated all examination officers to conduct 100 per cent examination of all consignments. During the examination, an item was discovered and suspected to be part of a rifle from a console consignment with airway bill number 235-58737755, emanating from Turkey.”
He noted that the entire consignment was set aside for a thorough examination.
The analysis of the consignment, along with other recent seizures, suggested that some individuals in Turkey were buying, packaging, and exporting illicit arms to Nigeria.
Adeniyi also mentioned that additional military and para-military hardware and accoutrements, worth N1.29 billion, were seized by the command. He stated that the total Duty Paid Value of all the displayed items was N1.56 billion.
