The Federal government has summoned the Turkish Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr. Hakan Çakıl over the illegal arms import from that country into Nigeria. The meeting is scheduled to hold today, Friday September 22, 2017.
Nigeria will express dissatisfaction over the situation and also demand immediate action to curb the menace.
Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs, Col Hameed Ali (rtd.), said the service is collaborating with the Directorate of State Service (DSS) and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to tackle the increase in importation of illegal firearms.
Ali said on Thursday that President Muhammadu Buhari discussed the matter with the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, at the venue of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
Operatives of the Customs at the Tin-Can Island Command on Wednesday intercepted another cache of illegal arms less than two weeks after a similar discovery.
Customs in a statement said the guns were found in a 20ft container with registration number CMAU189817/8 from Turkey.
“It was transferred to the enforcement unit, where 100% examination revealed 470 pump action rifles as against elbow plumbing plastics on its bill of lading”, it read in part.
“Importer of this deadly cargo is Great James Oil and Gas Ltd, while the vessel is MV Arkas Africa owned by Hull Blyth.
“This discovery brings to a total of 2671 rifles seized within the last eight months of this year.”