Investigation on 440 rifles continues, says Customs

The Federal Government has been urged to place an outright ban on all imports from Turkey since a total of 1101 pump action rifles and other ammunitions were shipped from the country in the last five months.

The Customs had seized 661 riffles in January and another 441 guns on Tuesday from the same country. This is coming as more emphasis is now laid on installation of scanners at the ports to ease cargo examination and forestall smuggling of firearms.

Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer, TinCan Command of Nigerian Customs Service, Uche Ejesieme has said that the suspect and the arms are still in custody of Customs while the investigation continues.

An industry expert and Chief Executive Officer, Ships and Ports, Bolaji Akinola also told The Guardian that the Federal Government must urgently take a step and halt general importation from Turkey as recent events showed that the country is contributing to security threat in Nigeria.

“I will suggest that government should halt all manner of importation from Turkey and institute a thorough investigation both at the diplomatic and intelligence level,” he said.

He said the arms should have been discovered in Turkey while they examined the cargo as it is done in every country, but this was not done in the two cases thereby raising concerns for suspicion.

Akinola bemoaned a situation whereby critical case such as importation of arm are swept under the carpet, as no further revelations emanated from the first case since January except for the importer that was arrested.

The President, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, (NAGAFF), Increase Uche, said the frequent importation of arms and ammunitions into the country calls for urgent need to install scanners at the ports to ease cargo examination by Customs.

He said: “Any individual or officers found culpable should be made to face the wrath of the law. Customs and the security agencies should get to the root of the matter.