The Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, has intercepted a cache of arms and ammunition valued at N270 million at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.
The Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, made this known in a statement through the Customs spokesman, Abdullahi Maiwada, in Lagos on Wednesday.
The consignment, which was intercepted at the cargo section of the MMA, was imported from Turkey with one suspect in custody.
According to the Customs boss, military hardware and accoutrements were also intercepted by the airport command.
“You may recall that the Customs recently impounded 11 rifles and six pistols, among other items.
“Similarly, just two days ago, a press briefing of this kind was held in Port Harcourt, where we showcased the seizure of 844 rifles and 112,500 rounds of ammunition.
“On June 19, we deployed our personnel to man all the exit points effectively and mandated all examination officers to conduct 100 per cent examination of all consignments.
“During the examination, an item was discovered and suspected to be part of a rifle from a console consignment with airway bill number 235-58737755, emanating from Turkey,” he said.
He said that the entire consignment was isolated for thorough examination.
He added that the analysis of the consignment with similar recent seizures indicated that some unscrupulous Nigerians based in Turkey were purchasing, packaging and exporting illicit arms to Nigeria.
Adeniyi said that other military and para-military hardware and accoutrements were also seized by the command worth N1.29 billion.
The Customs boss noted that the total Duty Paid Value of all the displayed items was N1.56 billion.
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