Turkey to partner Nigeria in the war against illegal importation of arms
Following the recent seizures of Pump Actions Riffles from Turkey and the urgent need to explore available options in dealing with the trend, the Controller General of Customs (CGC) , Col Hameed Ali (rtd) has met with the Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, MR Hakan Cakil.
The meeting which held on Tuesday at the Nigeria Customs Service Headquarters in Abuja had the entire management of the Service in attendance as both parties deliberated on how to fashion out ways of dealing with the disturbing issue.
According to the CGC Ali (Rtd), the Nigeria Customs Service and indeed all Nigerians are still in shock with the fact that the four different arms seizures with a total number of 2671 Pump Action Riffles, all came from one source,Turkey.
This he said appears to suggest complicity of Turkish Authority, hence the need for the meeting.
At the meeting which lasted for about two hours, specific commitments and strategies to stem the ugly tide were discussed.
On his part, the Turkish Ambassador restated his country’s support for Nigeria’s security and well being, saying that Turkey will not support any dangerous shippment to Nigeria.
He said the fact that all the four shipments intercepted were false declarations on the bills of lading, indicates that it is a clear case of smuggling.
According to a statement issued by the Customs Public Relations Officer, Joseph Attah, for the Comptroller-General of Customs, ” the Turkish Ambassador will immediately communicate to his home country, findings from the NCS HQ, with view to fishing out criminals behind the illegal arms shipment to Nigeria.”
He also revealed that a team of Nigeria Customs Service will visit the Turkish Customs to further discuss ways of nipping such arms export from Turkey as well as strengthening agreement on mutual customs to customs assistance.
The statement also said, ” NCS provided for the Turkish authority, list of prohibited items and in the case of arms, sample of End User Certificate to enable them always verify before approving any legal arms export to Nigeria.
“That the Turkish Government will co-operate with Nigeria in every step to deal decisively with those found involved.”
Both sides agreed to work together to stop the dangerous trend and to use the situation as opportunity to strengthen tides to prevent the use of either Country as a base for export of harmful items to the other.
