Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos
Operatives
of the Nigeria Customs Service at the Murtala Muhammed International
Airport Command in Lagos on Thursday have intercepted an air soft gun
otherwise known as Zinc Alloy Shell G15 pistol and five sachets of
pellets from a passenger at the premier airport.
The items were found on the passenger,
identified as Mr. Ukeje Joseph, with passport number A04206153, during
the inward clearance of Kenya Airways flight KQ532 from Johannesburg in
South Africa.
The event occurred during routine
examination by the Customs and other relevant agencies at the Lagos
Airport on passengers’ luggage.
The passenger claimed that the pistol was not a real gun. Joseph said he bought the air gun for his son.
The Public Relations Officer NCS, at the
airport, Mrs. Thelma Williams, told reporters on Thursday that the
passenger and the air soft gun with five sachets of pellets had been
handed over to the Airport Police Command for further investigations.
She said, “During the inward clearance
of Kenya Airways flight KQ532 from Johannesburg , in South Africa, on
the April 24, 2013, about 1050 hours, one Mr Ukeja Goodluck Joseph with
Nigerian passport number A04206153, upon normal routine examination with
other relevant agencies, his luggage was found to contain one air soft
gun zinc alloy shell G15 pistol which he claimed to have bought for his
son claiming that it is not a real gun.
“The passenger and the air soft gun with
five sachets of pellets have been handed over to the airport police
command for further investigations.”
On July, 13, 2012, the command
intercepted an Abuja bound cache of three high-calibre air rifles that
entered the country through the courier shed of the airport.
Concealed as golf bags and wrapped in a
carton, the rifles were contained in a courier package billed for
delivering to an unnamed arms smuggler based in the Federal Capital
Territory in Abuja.
The Customs Area Controller, MMIA, Mr.
Epowei Edike, while parading the suspects, said it took the eagle eyes
of officers of the command to intercept the prohibited ammunition which
were imported in sharp contravention of existing Nigerian laws.
PUNCH
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