Ten suspects have been remanded in the custody of the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) over their alleged involvement in the illegal importation of firearms and ammunition worth N4 billion.
Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja gave the remand order on Monday while adjourning the arraignment of the 10 suspects till 12 September due to a lack of legal representation for two of them.
The 10 defendants are Ali Ofoma, Okechukwu Charles, Kingsley Chinasa, Oroghodo Maxwell, Akinkuade Segun, Augustine Elechi, Osumini Kennedy, Ajala Ojo, Faboro Oluwatimilehin and Tolulope Ogundepo.
They were arrested in June in connection with the illegal importation of 844 rifles and 112,500 live ammunition worth N4 billion from Turkey.
The riffles and ammunition, loaded in a 40-foot container, were intercepted by the Nigeria Customs Service at the Onne Port, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The arms and ammunition were said to have been skillfully concealed within items such as doors, furniture, plumbing fittings and leather bags.
When the matter was called for arraignment on Monday, eight of the defendants had lawyers while the 6th and 7th defendants did not have legal representation.
Though an activist and lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, and George Ogala, who were in court for another matter, volunteered to represent the two defendants for free, they declined the offer.
The 6th defendant explained to the court that the charges were only served on him on Sunday night, hence, his inability to get his lawyer to accompany him to court. He insisted that he would get his lawyer to represent him.
With the lack of legal representation for the 6th and 7th defendants, Justice Nwite adjourned the matter till 12 September 2024, for arraignment.
He ordered that the defendants “be remanded in the IRT’s custody”.
In the charges against the defendants, the prosecution said they “did knowingly and intentionally conspired with others now at large to illegally import into Nigeria prohibited 844 firearms, and 112,500 rounds of cartridges concealed in plumbing materials and other items, loaded inside 1 x 40ft container with registration number MAEU-9165396 and you thereby committed an act contrary to Section 3(6) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act Cap M17 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004”.
The prosecution also said the defendants “altered a bill of lading of the consignment from Ola Gold Maratine Services to read Dan Autos Limited and diverted the movement of the container from West African Container Terminal (WACT) to WAX Logistics Limited to cover up their illegal intention to import prohibited arms and ammunitions, thereby committing an act of uttering of forged document with the intent that it may be anyway be used or acted upon as genuine contrary to section 1(2)(c ) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act Cap M17 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004”.
