Customs Officials Apprehend Bus Loaded With Cartons of 30,000 Pieces of Live Cartridges

A bus loaded with cartons of 30,000
pieces of live cartridges but concealed
with tubers of yam and bags of yam flour
was on Tuesday, March 10 seized by the
Nigerian Customs Service.
But the customs officials working along
Saki-Ago Are, in Oyo State, led by
Superintendent of Customs A. Okoi,
proved that they were well-trained, as
their eagle eyes caught the conveyer of
the unwholesome products while the
men alleged to be the owners fled on
sighting the customs officials.
Speaking during a press briefing, the
Area Controller, Mr Richard Oteri, said
that the driver of the bus with
registration number KW 286 SHH was
intercepted in the early hours of
Monday, March 10 in which the live
cartridges were discovered. The driver,
Adegoke Abdulrahman, was also
arrested.
Crime Reports learnt that Saki town has
routes that could be used to link other
countries such as Republic of Benin,
Togo Republic and Burkina Faso. Many
illegal routes along the borders of the
countries have been used to bring in
arms and ammunition into Nigeria.
Similar seizure of 56,750 live cartridges
was also made by the area command on
May 18, 2013 along same Saki route, Mr
Oteri revealed.
Speaking with Crime Reports after the
press briefing, the bus driver claimed
that he was ignorant of the content of
the bags, as he was just hired by the
owners to convey them to Ibadan.
According to the indigene of Ago Amodu
residing in Saki, both in Oke Ogun area
of Oyo State, "on Monday March 10, I
was at Ago Amodu town to get foodstuff
for my brother's child naming ceremony
taking place in Lagos State on Tuesday.
As some people were helping me to
slaughter and cut the ram we wanted to
use, I went to Oje Owode area where I
saw two men. One was a Yoruba man
while the other was Igbo.
"They told me they had goods they were
taking to Ibadan, saying they vehicle
with which they were conveying the
goods broke down. I asked them the kind
of goods they wanted me to convey and
they said they were bags of yam flour
and tubers of yam. I told them I wanted
to go and settle some things first but
they urged me to them follow and view
the goods.
"I took my vehicle and followed them. I
saw the goods at the back of a pick-up
van. I told them to wait until I concluded
my brother's errands but again, they
urged me to drop my vehicle,
volunteering to load the goods into it
themselves. They said they would have
finished before I would return. We
negotiated the fare and after sizing up
the goods at the back of the van, I asked
them to pay N30,000.
"They pleaded that I should collect
N25,000 from them. We agreed on that
and I left for Saki. By the time I returned,
they had finished loading the goods and I
was given N5,000 as advance payment,
with them promising to pay me the
balance when we get to Iwo Road area of
Ibadan after they must have withdrawn
some cash from an Automated Teller
Machine. They told me the goods would
be offloaded beside a petrol station at
Iwo Road.
"I also picked four women as passengers
before we proceeded to Ibadan. At
Iseyin, one of the women said she
wanted to buy drinks and bread, so I
parked. That was where a patrol team of
Nigeria Customs Service came to meet
us. They demanded to know what was in
the bus and I told them it was bags of
yam flour and tubers of yam.
"The Igbo man came and told me to
open up to them that there were 10
bags of rice and cartons of cartridges
among the goods. I exclaimed in fear,
telling him that I could not speak on
what I did not know about. But he
assured me that the customs officials
only needed to be settled.
"When we got to the customs' office, I
relayed what the Igbo man told me and
they asked me to follow them to their
office. As we were going, I turned back
and noticed that the owners of the goods
had fled. Other passengers had also left.
This is the first time I will be
experiencing this kind of thing. I have
never done it before."