Officers of the Nigeria Customs Service attached to the Tin Can Island Command on Friday intercepted a container loaded with arms and ammunition, The PUNCH has learnt.
The owner of the container reportedly said the consignment contained electronics but the suspicious Customs officials, upon close examination of the cartons, discovered that they were filled with guns.
The Public Relations Officer of the Tin Can Customs Command, Uche Ejesieme, confirmed the discovery to The PUNCH on Saturday.
He said, “The Command wish to confirm very categorically that during routine examination at the terminal B2 (Vehicle) of the TICT on Friday, 17th December 2021, our operatives stumbled on a suspected container laden with arms and possibly ammunition.
“We quickly sealed it up and intimated the terminal operators to quickly move the container to our enforcement unit where we hope to conduct 100 per cent examination by Monday morning.
“The information is still very sketchy as we speak. By the time we conduct comprehensive information, we will be able to avail the media with the circumstances and possibly the suspects.
“We are going to do a comprehensive investigation into this with a view to unravelling the criminal gang behind this and continue to decimate and degrade them.”
The interception of the arms-laden container occurred days after the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, charged strategic police managers in the Nigeria Police Force to brace up to the anticipated internal security challenges that the year 2022 will present.
The IGP said 2022 would be very challenging because it precedes the 2023 general elections and the Force would be confronted with the management of threats associated with an active political space.
Over the months, criminals hell-bent on making the country unsafe have devised diverse methods to smuggle firearms into Nigeria, which is currently battling insurgents, killer herders, robbers, kidnappers and bandits using sophisticated weapons to cause mayhem across states in the country.
