There are growing concerns among Nigerians and other critical stakeholders within the security sector over the rise in importation of illicit arms and ammunition, as well as drugs worth billions of naira through the borders - land and waters, Daily Trust reports.
The illegal arms, according to top security officers and experts, are partly responsible for the seeming insurmountable security challenges across the country, particularly in the North-West and North-East geopolitical zones. Some of the experts however commended the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for the successes it recorded in the last few years by intercepting arms and ammunition that would have been used to destabilise the country.
But beyond that, the experts called on the Customs Service and other security agencies to go a step further by unraveling the identities of those behind the illicit importation of the arms, and also take them to court.
The Customs Service on Monday, July 1, 2024, in Rivers State, revealed that its operatives intercepted a weapon-laden container with a significant cache of arms, ammunition and drugs, with a total duty-paid value of N13.9 billion.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, while briefing journalists at the Onne Port, Rivers State, gave the details of the seizures as a 40-foot container carrying 844 rifles and 12,500 live ammunition rounds, which were concealed using doors, furniture, plumbing fittings, and leather bags.
He said the six 40-foot containers containing one million bottles of CSC cough syrup with Codeine, 3.5 million Trodol Benzhexol tablets with N9.6 billion duty-paid value and two 40-foot containers with 720 bales of used clothes and N144 million duty-paid value were intercepted.
According to him, the weapon-laden container, which originated from Turkey, based on the number of risk factors associated with the importation, became a subject of interest to the service.
"We followed its sail across continents and we benefitted immensely from credible information through our collaboration with intelligence communities both at local, national and international levels," he said.
Multi-billion naira illicit weapons enter Nigeria 23 times in 7 years
Findings by our reporter revealed that illicit weapons worth billions of naira found their way into the country 23 times within seven years, with whereabouts of many of them unknown.
Data compiled and analysed by Daily Trust showed that those arms and ammunition entered the country through Tin Can Island and Apapa ports, both in Lagos State; Enugu and Cross River land borders; Bukoro axis of Baruten Local Government Area, Kwara State, Igboora axis of Oyo State; Idiroko in Ogun State, among others.
In February, May and September 2017, 66 pump action rifles were seized at the Apapa Port in Lagos; 440 at the Tin Can Island, Lagos; 355 packages of bomb materials at Lagos-Sahco and Nahco Sheds, as well as 1,100 pump action rifles seized at Tin Can Island, Lagos.
On July 9 and 12, 2018, at least 150 rounds of live ammunition, 28 pieces of various jack knives; 149 rounds of 38mm calibre live ammunition, 92 rounds of 9mm calibre live ammunition, two rounds of 7.62mm calibre live ammunition, 11 cartridges of live ammunition, 12 expanded empty shells of various calibres and one empty magazine were also intercepted at the Tin Can Island port. Similarly, in November 2018, 4,375 rounds of ammunition, two magnum pump action and 200 military camouflage were intercepted in Enugu State.
In Cross River State, 5,200 live ammunition were seized on December 13, 2020, while a pistol and a fully-loaded magazine inside an imported vehicle were intercepted at five star logistics terminal of Tin Can Island on August 29, 2021.
In the same 2021, on September 26, precisely, 751 pieces of 70mm live lion cartridges were intercepted at Igboora axis of Oyo State.
One week after that, 200 rounds of 7.2mm live ammunition being conveyed to Cameroon, were seized in Cross River State while 550 gun cartridges were intercepted at Adikpo Junction, Benue State in December 2021.
Data further showed that in December 2021, 64,000 pump action gun cartridges were intercepted at an area called Success Line, Marine Modern Market, Onitsha, Awka-north Local Government Area of Anambra State, while another container loaded with guns was also seized on December 17, 2021, at the Tin Can Island in Lagos.
In Bukoro axis of Baruten Local Government Area of Kwara State, 3,620 rounds of ammunition were seized in January 2022, while one pump action rifle, two locally made guns and 35 live cartridges were intercepted along Idiroko, Ogun State. Furthermore, two rifles and 14 live ammunition were seized in Lagos State in September 2022 and October 12, 2022 respectively.
Before then, in January 2022, military camouflage and 450 units of explosive making chemicals were seized.
Six months later, on July 5, 2023, three new pump action rifles, six different makes of pistols, one millennium G2 pistol, one Sarsilmaz sar - 9x pistol, one new luger security 9 pistol, 1 tarus nab bridge G3C pistol, 1 sccy cpx - 2 pistol, 1 new Taurus (63 pistol) 14 empty magazines and 442 rounds of ammunition were uncovered at Ports and Terminal Multi-Services Limited, Lagos.
In July 2023, at least six different makes of pistols comprising two pieces of Sar9 Sarsimarz pistols, one Ruger American pistol and three pieces of Taurus G3C-Bainbridge pistols as well as another 12 rifles were seized.
Also intercepted in the container were 10 packets of cartridges, two packets of 9mm ammunition, 100 rounds of 9mm Winchester ammunition, one carton of Frontier cartridges and two packets of Buckshot ammunition at Tin Can Island Port. In November 2023, some arms and ammunition were intercepted at the Onne Port, Rivers State.
On March 15, 2024, 11 guns, including pump action guns, six pistols, including semi-automatic arms and pepper spray guns, military vests, among others were intercepted at Tin Can Island.
The latest interception of July 1, 2024, also saw drugs worth over N2 billion, and arms and ammunition worth over N2 billion were intercepted by the operatives of the Customs Service.
Trend portends grave danger - Security experts
A cross-section of top officers and experts in the security circle, in separate interviews with our reporter, said there was an urgent need to curb the trend in order to rid the country of insecurity.
They said naming and shaming the owners of those types of containers would go a long way in tackling the problem.
The Secretary of the Coalition of Concerned Veterans, Abiodun Durowaiye-Herberts, said most of the illegal arms come in through private jetties that are not being regulated or controlled by the government.
Durowaiye-Herberts, a retired naval officer, urged the government to send operatives of Department of State Services (DSS) and other plain-clothed security operatives to those private jetties to gather intelligence.
He said: "This portends grave danger for us to say the least. And so many of these illicit arms would have crossed into the country without being noticed.
"Only God gave the security agencies the opportunity to intercept these ones. Otherwise, there are several ways by which these people (smugglers) bring in these types of illicit arms.
"You know we have pockets of jetties in that axis which are not controlled by the government; it is not like the Nigerian Ports Authority. We have some other jetties through which those arms and ammunition enter the country.
"It is a serious danger honestly. There should be more vigilance in our ports. Like I told you, the private jetties can be easily compromised when money is involved.
"But the government must very careful, and send operatives of the DSS and other plain-clothed officers to those types of jetties to detect the nefarious activities of the people in those private jetties", he said.
A security expert, Aliyu Garba, wondered why the Customs does not disclose the identities of the ownership of illegal arms-laden containers when arrested.
"They would want to tell us that revealing the identities of the owners of those containers would hamper investigations, but the truth of the matter is that, we are not ready to end the menace if we continue to cover the criminals.
"Have you ever heard that Customs handed over anyone to police for prosecution? Have you ever heard that someone was jailed for importing guns illegally? No! This is because you and I cannot venture into that type of business; it is a business for the rich," Mr Garba said.
A serving military officer, who did not want his name in print, said illegal importation of arms would continue to thrive provided the identities of those doing the illegal business continue to be covered.
"We see things every day. We hear things every day. What we see, especially in ports, on waters, in creeks, in jetties and other locations in the maritime areas is so deep and incomprehensible.
"Unless something drastic is done, we're far from getting it right," the naval officer said.
He said it was important for the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) to checkmate all security officers working in maritime domain.
Investigation ongoing - Customs
When contacted yesterday about the identities of the importers of the seized arms, the spokesman of the Nigeria Customs Service, Abdullahi Maiwada, told our reporter that the investigation was ongoing.
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He said the Service had since handed over all the weapons to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) under the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
"They're responsible for managing the weapons. They take necessary action in line with their responsibilities. At the same time, there are a lot of engagements going on. There are some arrests. Unfortunately, I'm not really competent enough to give you any brief or development about the whole investigation because it is ongoing. The competent authority to do that is the agency we have handed over to.
"We're working in collaboration with them; we're also liaising with them. They're also working with the INTERPOL; they're also collaborating with the Customs administrations of the countries of origin where the arms came from. It's joint efforts that are yielding a lot of fruits. But the details of the investigation cannot be disclosed because I'm not competent enough to say anything on that.
"I'm sure that by the time they're done with the investigation, they're going to make this information available to the public," he said.
NSA's Office takes custody of seized ammunition
Meanwhile, the ONSA has confirmed taking custody of the arms and ammunition seized from various borders across the country.
The NCCSALW, domiciled in the NSA's Office, said it would ensure the weapons were properly documented and destroyed to prevent them from posing a threat to society.
This was contained in a statement by the Director, Strategic Communications and Information at the Centre, Group Captain Pius Okwuego.
The statement read: "The National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) applauds the outstanding efforts of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in intercepting a significant cache of illicit arms and ammunition.
"The operation resulted in the seizure of a 40-foot container loaded with 844 rifles and 112,500 live ammunition in Port Harcourt. The intercepted container, identified as MAEU165396, originated from Turkey and was meticulously tracked by the NCS through their robust Risk Management System," he said.
According to him, three suspects have been detained in connection with the seizure, while further investigations are ongoing to ensure that all parties involved are brought to justice.
