I sell guns to vandals, not Boko Haram – Gunrunner

Amao and Tunbosun

A suspected gunrunner, Abdulazeez Amao, has told police in Lagos that he sells guns to pipeline vandals and not Boko Haram members or robbers. The 47-year-old suspect was arrested for being in possession of 10 AK47 rifles.
Amao, until his arrest, used to go to Burkina Faso to buy guns and smuggle them into Nigeria by concealing them in yam flour. The suspect said that he used to go to a market in Burkina Faso to meet one Zakari Watara, who sells the guns to him. According to him, Watara buys the guns in Mali and brings them to the market in Burkina Faso.
He said: “I buy the guns for N240,000 each and sell in Nigeria for N350,000. Watara is from Wayalga area in Ouagadougou, Capital of Burkina Faso. He gets his supply from Mali from where he transports the rifles to Wayalga market in Burkina Faso, there I buy from him.
“To bring them into Nigeria, I package them into large containers of condensed milk. On getting between the border of Nigeria and Benin Republic, I will remove them from the condensed milk and conceal them in yam flour. It is from there I would travel to Ibadan.

“Once I’m in Ibadan, I will alert a man called Gbenga Olusegun, who is an intermediary between me and two of my buyers in Onitsha, Moses Okoli and Obiora Nnanna. “Normally, I don’t sell to Boko Haram members. I sell to Olusegun, who sells to the Igbo boys.
The boys said they used the guns for oil bunkering.” The Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, said Amao was apprehended after the Special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, arrested a gang of robbers, who mentioned the name of one Olatunji Tunbosun, a hunter, who used to assist in getting them guns.
He added that when Tunbosun was arrested, he mentioned the name of Amao and Olusegun as those behind the gunrunning racket. Amao, according to him, was arrested, while Olusegun simply vanished. The commissioner disclosed that Olusegun and others may run all they want, but it was only a matter of time before police catch up with them.
Manko said that he had received information on March 10, that Tunbosun was a member of notorious armed robbery gang and had directed the officer in charge of SARS, Mr Abba Kyarri, to track down the suspect. Tunbosun was arrested at Ikorodu, with one AK47 rifle. When he was quizzed, he confessed to have bought the gun from Amao, an arms dealer in Ibadan, Tony Anichebe the commissioner disclosed.
He said: “Sequel to Tunbosun’s confessions, two SARS decoy teams were briefed and sent to Ibadan and after eight days, Amao was arrested in his house at Ayegun area, Olomi bus stop. Ten AK47 rifles were recovered from him.
“He confessed to have sold several other AK47 rifles and English pistols to several buyers in Oyo, Lagos and Anambra states. Most of the buyers got information of his arrest and ran, but effort is on to get them.” Reacting to Amao’s dexterity in concealing and smuggling guns into Nigeria, Manko said that the suspect’s mode of operation was an eye-opener for security agents.
The commissioner explained that since both men were arrested in Nigeria, there might not be need for intervention of Interpol. “But for the fact that the guns went through Mali, Burkina Faso and Benin, Republic, I think it is something to probe further.
I have a mandate to make sure there is peace in Lagos and I will follow it through,” he said. However, Amao disclosed that he started the business early 2014 and was initiated by the fleeing Gbenga Olusegun.
Speaking on his system of beating security agents, he said: “We don’t settle Customs officers, which is why we conceal the guns in yam flour and move at night.” The suspect said he had two wives and both women knew he was a smuggler, but he had cleverly hidden his arms running business from them.
He said: “My wives know that I’m a smuggler and they had warned me several times against the business. I now wish I had listened to them. But they didn’t know that I was into gunrunning. I don’t bring the guns into the country in large quantity. I bring two or three at a time.”