Every day for the thief, but Tuesday May 23 was for the Nigeria Customs Service, Tin Can Island Command, which intercepted a container loaded with 440 arms and ammunition of various sizes and designs.
The zonal commander, Monday Abue, who represented the Comptroller-General, Col. Hameed Ali, said the cargo was shipped from Turkey.
The consignment, according to him, was declared as Plaster of Paris by the importer.
Abue explained that the container with registration number PONU 210024/1, was intercepted following intelligence report, adding that investigations were continuing, to unmask the importer.
According to him, the pump-action rifles were manufactured in the
United States of America and Italy.
“They are pump-action rifles of various designs and also the single-barreled devices that you are familiar with.
“We discovered that they used POP to conceal the guns. We have arrested one defendant but for security reasons, we don’t want to make it public for now because such information could derail investigations, which are still ongoing.”
According to Abue, the country has been saved another round of problems which the rifles would have caused.
The PRO of the command, Mr. Uche Eiesieme, in a statement issued after the press briefing, listed the rifles seized as 100 pieces of Black Tornado single-barreled rifles, 75 pieces of Silver Magnum single-barreled rifles, 50 pieces of Altar pump-action rifles, 215 pieces of Black single-barreled rifles, among other accessories.
Earlier in the year, a similar consignment had been seized by the Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘A’, Ikeja, which contained about 661 pump action rifles.