Troops of 192 Battalion of the 81 Division of the Nigerian Army (NA) have busted an international ammunition smuggling syndicate while it was transporting a truckload of ammunition to Anambra State.
Army spokesman, Brig Gen Onyema Nwachukwu, in a statement on Monday, said the truck was intercepted on the Ajilete-Owode road in Yewa North LGA of Ogun State on Saturday.
Nwachukwu said that the troops, acting on intelligence, conducted a stop and search operation and uncovered the illegal ammunition in a truck with registration number: ENU 697 XY.
He explained that the truck was loaded with 720 packets of Red Star cartridges of 12 calibre containing 25 cartridges per packet, totaling 18,000 cartridges, and an additional 250 packets of live (black) cartridges containing 10 packets each, totaling 2,500 cartridges of same calibre.
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He said that the suspects, Eric Seworvor, a Ghanaian; and the driver, Lukman Sani, had been taken into custody and were helping with investigation.
The statement reads in part: “Information gathered during preliminary investigation revealed that the ammunition, which were surreptitiously concealed in a supposedly empty truck, were imported from Mali via Idiroko international border where the criminals had successfully beaten several other checkpoints.
“They were enroute their final destination in Onitsha, Anambra, where they intended to deliver the illegal ammunition.
“Timely intervention by the vigilant troops, however, thwarted the chaos that such a volume of ammunition would have unleashed on innocent members of the public if the criminals had succeeded.
“The Nigerian Army, therefore, appeals to all law-abiding citizens to continue to support the troops and other security agencies with credible and actionable information as they combat security challenges across the country. (NAN)
