Following comments credited to the federal government suggesting that the three batches of arms illegally imported into the country within the last eight months of this year was imported by the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Maazi Nnamdi Kanu and his group, the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has called for caution on the part of the security agencies less they jeopardize investigations.
The group which made its position on the matter known through its National President, Chief Increase Uche warned that making statements while investigations were ongoing amounts to giving a verdict which he said was capable of affecting the credibility of such investigations.
According to him,”You see, where they keep getting all these things wrong is that act of flippancy, people talking too much even as security agents, when they have not concluded investigations on the issue, they are making statements as if they are giving a verdict. So, they should exercise some restraints”.
Uche however said that he as an individual would not want to make comments as to whether or not the arms were actually imported by Nnamdi Kanu or IPOB as he was not in a position to do so more so as investigations were ongoing adding that whatever investigations said on the status of the arms that were imported would be it.
“But for me, I cannot state categorically that whatever rumour that is going on is the true position until the security officers are able to come out and tell us categorically that this is what the investigation report is pointing at.
“But to help the investigators, this is a very simple and straightforward issue, there shouldn’t be any speculation. It is an imported item, a shipping line was involved in shipping it, then a shipper also was involved who gave the consignment for shipment. Then it is possible that the consignee or the importer is also there. All these things are manifested in the bill of lading.
“With those information contained in the bill of lading, it will be a guide for the investigators to know where to trace the owners. Like I said, I wouldn’t want to dabble into that realm of speculation that the arms belong to IPOB or to an independent importer or to government or whoever. I am not in such position but all I know is that there is a clue because those cargoes did not just come in, certain parties were involved in bringing them in. So, through those parties, they will trace whosoever that is privy to the importation”, he suggested.
The NAGAFF boss dismissed the call for the owners of the consignment to be traced to his address as manifested in the bill of lading arguing that such exercise won’t be necessary.
He continued,”If I may advise, I will simply advice the law enforcement agencies to go into thorough investigation. Investigation is a very wide thing, you may be looking at the address on the bill of lading to be the address of the importer whereas it is fake.
“So, revealing that might not lead us to the actual owner and you look at the importation of those three batches of arms, it appears they seemed to belong to the same group or importer coming from the same country, Turkey, that should be a clue. What is the name in the first bill of lading and the destination? Then, what is the name on the second and third ones?.
“See, under the contract of carriage of goods by sea, it is always clear. Somebody placed order, it is possible that before the importation, that proforma was sent , Form M was opened. So, these are procedures for importation and from that areas, it is easy. There must be a bank where Form M was processed, even if they didn’t declare the actual thing in the container but the one they declared, who opened the Form M? Who made the approval? The shipping line that brought it and all that.
“So, it is only the uninformed that will go on to carry on this kind of investigation, suspecting who importer could be. The documents are there”.
It will be recalled that the Nigeria Customs Service within the last eight months had intercepted and seized some cache of arms illegally imported into the country from Turkey, the first totaling 661, the second, 440 and the last totaling 1,100, a development that got both the citizens and the government worried.
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1 Comment
Perhaps Customs blew it. As soon as the first carton of guns was sighted, enough evidence of wrong doing, Customs should have quietly stopped further search BUT then delay release, set up road tracking teams to follow the container to final destination of unloading. That would have saved time and efforts now towards identifying importer. It is more a matter of strategy than uncontrolled emotions to make news.