Customs seized arms, over 60,000 ammunition rounds in 4 yrs

The Nigerian Customs Services [NCS] has seized arms and over 60,000 rounds of ammunition between 2012 and 2016.

The seizures were made on 17 different occasions at the various points of entry, disclosed Customs’ sources.

The said arms were imported into the country from the United States and Europe.

This revelation was contained in an NCS report prepared by the Enforcement, Investigation and Inspection Department.

It detailed its general anti-smuggling performance for each of the four years covered by the report.

It said the seizures were carried out during the period under review as part of its anti-smuggling activities.

It stated that the anti-smuggling activities covered all the airports, seaports, creeks and border stations nationwide.

The report, though, did not provide the monetary value of the confiscated arms and ammunition.

This is opposed to other confiscated items where their monetary values were provided by the service.

The report stated that while the service recorded just one case of seizure of arms and ammunition in 2012, the figure rose by 700 per cent to eight cases in 2013.

In 2014, according to the report, six cases of confiscation of imported arms and ammunition were recorded by the NCS while none was recorded in 2015.

It said the development if left unchecked is capable of affecting the peace and economic development of the nation.

It said, “It is a must for us to curtail the influx of firearms. You could recall that the Libyan episode and Mali episode have now created more serious nature of circulation of arms in the whole of Africa.

“The influx of arms is what gives impetus for criminals to operate. If we are able to block and make sure that arms is not circulated the way it is, I am sure we will reduce to minimum the menace.

“Some of the people who are armed robbers and kidnappers, without arms in their hands, they cannot confront most of their victims.”

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