But for a chance encounter with eagle-eyed Customs officers, another batch of 661 illegal high-calibre rifles would have successfully entered the Nigerian heartland and deploy to worsen the already high rate of insecurity in the country.
The made-in-China semi-automatic pump-action rifles which were hidden in a container carrying steel doors and other goods had already made it through the precincts of the Nigerian Ports, Apapa when a Customs Federal Operations Unit on patrol along Mile 2 – Apapa Expressway intercepted it and insisted on examining its contents, only to stumble on the carefully-concealed weapons of war.
Further investigation by the authorities have since revealed that the particular container bearing the illegal arms was not dropped down for screening and clearing but summarily evacuated from the ports. Suspecting that some Customs officers might have colluded with the importers to ensure that the illegal firearms evaded the screening machines, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retired) who displayed the contraband items, ordered the arrest of the importers and Customs officials behind the crime.
It was also through these same ports that a consignment of 13 containers of military-grade arms and ammunitions were intercepted in 2010. They were later found to have been manufactured in Iran, and this sparked off a diplomatic furore between Nigeria and that country.
Since the days of the “53 suitcases” in 1984 whose contents were not examined but moved out of the Murtala Muhammed International Airports on “orders from above”, the collusion of officials charged with securing our land, air and sea borders from harmful and illegal foreign-made goods has been the order of the day. Nigerian territorial borders are among the most incompetently policed, and corruption is not far from the main motive for the thriving of this anomaly.
As a result, the nation continues to face all sorts of internal security challenges, manifesting in the Niger Delta militancy, Boko Haram insurgency, the armed herdsmen attacks in most parts of the country, the rage of cultism and the militarisation of our elections and political processes. The preponderance of small arms and light weapons in the hands of those not authorised to possess them has helped fuel violent robberies and fertilise the crime of kidnapping.
These routine interceptions bespeak of a trend of steady inflow of illegal arms. It is obvious that many more pass through the eyes of the needle into the system.
The ability of the patrolling group to intercept this consignment shows that we still have dedicated officers who are determined to do their jobs, and this we commend. All those implicated in the crime must be made to pay heavy prices according to the law to serve as a lesson to others.
The law enforcement agencies must do more to make Nigeria safer.
