The huge consignment of weapons found in the Ukrainian cargo plane now detained at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano was procured by the Ministry of Defence of Equatorial Guinea, the crew members of the detained plane told security agents yesterday.

They insisted that they were on their way to Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, to deliver the arms consignment from the former Soviet Republic of the Ukraine when the plane stopped over in Kano to refuel. Security sources in Kano had earlier said the plane was bound for Guinea Bissau.

Daily Trust learnt yesterday that the detained crewmen are eight in number, not four as was earlier reported. Of the eight, seven arrived aboard the plane, six of them being Ukrainians and one being a Nigerian. The eighth detained person, security sources said, is a Nigerian who came to Kano from Lagos in order to facilitate the refueling and early departure of the arms-laden plane. He is said to be an official of an airline in Lagos.

Source also told Daily Trust that the detained crewmen attempted to bribe the airport security operatives so as to be allowed to take off after refueling, but the operatives turned down the offer, which was said to be a substantial amount of money in hard currency.

Commander of the Nigeria Air Force base in Kano, Air Commodore Ishaku Umar, was sighted at the Kano Government House yesterday, where he went to brief Governor Ibrahim Shekarau on the preliminary report on the case.

It was gathered that a delegation from Defence Headquarters in Abuja is billed to arrive in Kano today for further investigation. Another delegation from the Ukrainian Embassy in Abuja is also expected in Kano today.

Amidst all the controversy, all the security agencies in Kano and Abuja refused to brief newsmen on the results of their investigations. Officials at the airport kept sealed lips and refused to allow newsmen near the detained plane.

And in Abuja, efforts to obtain comments from the military and security agencies were firmly rebuffed. Director of Information and Public Relations of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Group Captain Sadiq Shehu declined to speak yesterday, saying he had not been briefed. He said, "I cannot say anything about the matter because I have not been briefed about it." The Russian made plane with registration number-CAK and its crew were detained at the NAF wing of the MAKIA.

Also several calls made to the out-going Director of Defence Information, Colonel Christopher Jemitola, were not answered. Our reporters could also not obtain any comments from officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who said "it is a security matter." At the Ukarainian, Equatorial Guinean and Guinea Bissau embassies, no officials agreed to speak on the matter.

The detained Ukrainian plane had stopped over for refueling at MAKIA at about 4 am on Wednesday when Customs and Immigration officers noticed some defects in the information supplied by the crew.

Security operatives also became suspicious of the crew's inability to declare in the form what the cargo plane was carrying.

Security sources said there were eight heavy crates of various weapons and ammunitions on board the plane including rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers, mortars and howitzers. Even though the crewmen claimed that they were going to Equatorial Guinea-Bissau, there were strong suspicions among the security agents that they were gun running for Niger Delta militants.