Customs arrest man with pistols, military ware

Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko
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The Lagos Airport Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has arrested a man with three bags filled with pistols, camouflages, and other military ware.

Customs Area Commander, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Mr. Eporwei Edike, said this on Thursday at a press briefing in Lagos. He gave the name of the man as Bashir Ali.

He said the suspect, who came in from South Africa, was arrested on Sunday at the Lagos airport after collecting his luggage.

The Customs Area Commander said his men became suspicious when Ali was seen going through the green channel instead of the red channel, where he ought to declare his goods to Customs for check.

He said, “When he was asked to release his bags for checking, he started fidgeting. Anyone who has something to declare will go through the red channel.”

Edike said the suspect also tried to bribe a customs officer with $400.

He added that it took about three hours to get the suspect to open the three bags.

Apart from semi-automatic air pistols found with the suspects, other items were military camouflages, combat caps, bullet proof jackets and jack knives.

There were also several canisters of tear gas, walkie talkie, knee pads, head scanners, batons and traffic bars.

All the items were on display at the NARCO Yard office of the Customs during the press conference.

Edike said all the items were prohibited under the laws of the nation and stressed that Ali had therefore contravened Sections 1, 9, 13 and 16, Schedule 4 of the Customs Excise Tariff Consolidation Act of 2006 as amended.

According to him, Ali is also liable under Section 146B of SEMA 46 Cap 45LFN.

The Customs Area Controller said after the preliminary investigation by the Customs, the man with the seized items would be handed over to the police.

Meanwhile, the CAC said the command generated N3.01bn in June 2012 through 5,342 declarations.

He added that the revenue was over N400m more than what the command made the same month last year, which he gave as N2.6bn.

via Punch