Arms seizure raises concerns over proliferation of security agencies at ports

By FUNSO OLOJO

The interception last Sunday by the Nigeria Customs Service of cache of high calibre arms made up of 661 units of brand new Tomado pump action rifles on the street of Lagos has once against raised serious concerns among the agitated industry stakeholders who have now renewed their calls for the review of the numbers of security agencies which now proliferate the ports.

The arms, hidden with iron doors in a 40-foot container with number PONU/825914, was sneaked out of the Apapa Ports, having been duly cleared by all the relevant security agencies, including the Apapa Customs resident officers.

The offensive consignment was however intercepted by the roving team of the Federal Operation Unit(FOU) which, acting on an intelligence reports, intercepted the Mack truck with registration number BDG 265 XG conveying the contraband goods.

Beyond the frenzy and excitement generated by the seizure, some industry stakeholders were not amused by this discovery.

They alleged that many of such dangerous consignments have been passing through the ports into the Nigerian cities under the nose of the proliferated security agencies at the ports.

A high-ranking Customs officer who craved for anonymity disclosed that there are about 15 government agencies in the ports which are supposed to collaborate the efforts of the Nigeria Customs Service whose officers, some respondents lamented, have equally become highly corrupt and compromised.

These numbers sharply contradicted the seven authorized agencies which include Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Customs Service, NDLEA, NIMASA , Nigeria Police, Nigeria Immigration Service and Port Health.

However, few years ago, during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, the other much-roomed agencies were asked to leave the port but could be called upon whenever their services were needed.

Most of them have since sneaked back to the ports.

Sadly, despite the presence of the Customs officers, the DSS, DMI, The Police and other security agents  who were present at the examination bay to inspect the containers, the arms could still find its way out of the port.

Emma Opara, the Secretary- General of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents(ANLCA) was livid with anger and called on the Federal government to chase away all these security agencies whom he alleged have  compromised their duties.

According to him, if these agencies are weeded out, it will be easy to hold Customs accountable for any wrongdoing.

“This is not the first time arms and ammunitions have been passing through the ports. They should not fool us. It was only when negotiation broke down that the FOU was alerted.

“661 fire arms is no longer a concealment but almost a container load with few doors. These security agents including the Customs all saw these arms. It was a syndicate , all agents have compromised”, the ANLCA scribe alleged.

Opara further declared that the Customs authority in Apapa where the container was cleared should be held culpable and not the hapless junior officers being harassed by the powers that be.

“The wanted officers (who have since surrendered themselves to the Customs Authority)could not be the releasing officers. The releasing officer is always between the rank of Deputy Comptroller or Assistant Comptroller.

“There is no way these releasing officers and the O/C gate could claim ignorance of the whole sordid incident because at the gate, the exiting containers are always re-opened after examination. All the security agents ,including the Customs are culpable and are all corrupt’’ alleged Opara.

His views were corroborated by Osita Chukwu, the National Coordinator, Save Nigeria Importers and Freight Forwarders Coalition, who regarded the incident as a national embarrassment.

“These two officers declared wanted but who have turned themselves in could not have ordered the release of the container. The releasing officers should have been arrested.

“The OC inspection, OC  releasing and OC gate who are in the rank of Deputy Controller and Assistant Comptroller have questions to answer and not the poor junior officers in the rank of Inspector and Assistant Superintendent who are being hooded by the Customs authority”, declared Osita.

It could be recalled that both Abdullahi, an Assistant Superintendent and Odiba Haruna Inah, an Inspector, were declared wanted by the Customs authority in connection with the arms seizure but have since surrendered and arrested by the men of FOU.

However, another Customs officer, Yola Babakiri Ibrahim has also been declared wanted.

This development is coming on the heels of report that the female officer who authorized release of the consignment, one Rose Abetiambe, an Assistant Controller of Customs, has been in detention at the FOU cell in Ikeja since last Monday.

Sources informed that the releasing officer did not deny authorizing the release of the container loaded with the arms “after physical examination” was performed on it.

The sources said Customs authorities are preparing charges to prosecute Abetiambe and others involved in clearing the container.

Meanwhile, operatives of the Customs Federal Operations Unit, have laid siege on Apapa port following the seizure of the pump action riffles.

Sources said customs have invited the officials of APMT, the operator of the terminal who warehoused the offensive consignment and Maeskline, the shipping company that brought in the container.

However, industry commentators have dismissed as untenable the excuse being bandied in Customs quarters that the Customs examiners failed to detect the arms in the container due to faulty scanners.

A top ranking Customs officer at Apapa command has blamed the faulty scanners at the port for the inability of the officers to detect the hidden arms inside the container.

But importers and their agents who ventilated their views over the incident claimed that the Customs have long abandoned the use of scanners for 100 per cent physical examination.

“Even in 2010, in the wake of the seizure of the 13 containers of rocket launchers and other high caliber arms said to have been imported from Iran, Abdullahi Dikko, the then Comptroller-General of Customs, has given a directive to all customs formations to subject all containers to physical examination.

“The order was even strengthened by the present CGC Hammed Ali, who declared that all the scanners which the Customs inherited from the sacked service providers were obsolete and faulty, thereby asking that all consignments should be subjected to 100 per cent examination”, an Apapa –based importer explained.

The unfolding event in the sordid drama, analysts said, has further exposed the escalating corruption in the Nigeria Customs Service.

“The whole world is watching how CGC Ali would handle this embarrassing situation, given his much vaunted anti-corruption stance he never tired of mouthing’’, another respondent, who craved for anonymity, observed.