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Tag: Illegal firearms

  • Illegal firearms

    Illegal firearms

    The authorities must ensure that they are not in circulation

    A family of gunmakers found with firearms in their illegal gun-making factory by the police in Akwa Ibom State and the interception of firearms by the Joint Border Patrol Team Sector 2, South-West, Lagos at a place in Oyo State further highlighted the country’s security challenges.

    Following a tip-off, operatives of the Akwa Ibom State Police Command had raided the gun factory ran by a father and his sons, where they said “firearms of various types were fabricated and sold to criminals.” They notably seized seven newly made single-barrel guns, five newly made double-barrel guns, one special steel double-trigger pistol, one broken single-barrel gun, one trigger-handle walking stick knife, and several cut iron pipes used for constructing gun barrels.

    The State Commissioner of Police, Joseph O. Eribo told journalists that during the operation “one David Nse Emmanuel was arrested, while his father, Akpan Nse Emmanuel, and his brothers, who jointly run the business, fled.” He said the police were making efforts to apprehend the fleeing suspects and trace people who had purchased or ordered firearms from them.

    It is unclear how long the gun-making factory had existed, and why its existence was unknown to law enforcement agents before now. This case shows why members of the public should be vigilant and help security agencies to fight crime by supplying useful information. The police should follow up with a manhunt for the suspects on the run, and ensure they are caught and prosecuted. The involvement of a father and his sons is a shocking dimension. There should be no room for such a family of criminals in society. 

     This is troubling indeed. A comparable incident in March, when men of the 63 Brigade of the Nigerian Army raided an illegal gun factory in Onicha Olona community, Aniocha North Local Government Area, Delta State, shows that there may well be many others in the country who are running illegal gun-making factories as a family business. At the time, the army said: “Eight suspects involved in the family business including the mastermind of the operation, his father, mother, and sister were among those arrested at the factory.”

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    The coordinator of the Joint Border Patrol Team Sector 2, Mohammed Shuaibu, a Deputy Controller of Customs, told journalists that his team “intercepted six pieces of pump action rifles and 1,125 live cartridges concealed in a sack containing cassava flakes along Okerete-Ododo Bush in Oyo State.” He said the rifles were loaded in a Toyota saloon car.

    The joint border patrol team was inaugurated in August 2019 to tackle security challenges at the country’s international borders caused by the proliferation of smuggled small and light weapons, among others.

    The Office of the National Security Adviser, which coordinates the management of the team, works closely with the Nigerian Armed Forces, the Police, the Immigration Service, the Department of State Services, and the National Intelligence Agency.  The Nigeria Customs Service is the lead agency in the arrangement designed to ensure improved security at the country’s borders.

    Weapons falling into the wrong hands contribute to the country’s security crisis.  The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) said the security forces seized 10,200 weapons and 224,709 ammunition from terrorists and other non-state actors this year.

     Figures from the Institute of Security Studies saying Nigeria accounts for 70 percent of about 500 million illegal weapons in circulation in West Africa, and another report that puts the number of small arms in the hands of civilians in Nigeria at around 6.15 million, give an insight into the scale of the problem. 

    President Bola Tinubu recently unveiled the Nigeria Immigration Service Technology Innovation Complex named after him in Abuja. The facility will ascertain the risk level of persons entering the country, detect irregular migration patterns and monitor unmanned borders in hard-to-reach areas nationwide. Its unveiling is an innovative move to use technology to secure the country’s borders.  This facility is expected to help curb the illegal inflow of weapons into the country.

    In the final analysis, the authorities must ensure that illegal firearms are not in circulation within the country. 

  • Delta police begin mopping up of illegal firearms

    Delta police begin mopping up of illegal firearms

    The Delta state police command has appealed to residents of the state who have illegal and prohibited firearms in their possession to render them to the nearest police station.

    The commissioner of police, Wale Abass stated that the call was in line with the directive of the Inspector General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun, to tame the proliferation of illegal arms and weapons across the country.

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    The CP, in a statement signed by the state Police Public Relations Office (PPRO), DSP Bright Edafe, assured individuals involved in the wrongful possession of arms and light weapons such as pistol, rifle, air weapon, or imitation ( locally made guns, dummy guns etc) that willful submission will attract “no sanction.”

    He explained that the aim of the exercise is to reduce the number of guns in circulation across the state, as well as prevent firearms from getting into the wrong hands.

    Parts of the statement read: “the CP wishes to state emphatically that the Command has commenced an exercise to mop up all illegal and prohibited firearms in circulation across the state; noting that those who take advantage of this opportunity will not face any sanction, arrest, or harassment.”

    He, however, “warned that perpetrators who refuse to render their arms will not be spared and will be made to face the full wrath of the law when caught.”

  • IG’s panel to destroy 10,000 recovered illegal firearms, others

    Inspector-General (IG) Ibrahim Idris has set up a committee to destroy 10,000 illegal firearms and 26,000 ammunition recovered from members of the public.

    The arms were recovered during the mop-up operations of illegal firearms and prohibited weapons announced by the IG earlier this year.

    The committee, which would be headed by the DIG in charge of Operations, Habila Joshak, has representatives from United Nations (UN) organs, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Presidential Committee on Prohibition of Small Arms and Light Weapons (PRESCOM).

    Members of the committee are expected to destroy the weapons before the 2019 general elections.

    Idris spoke yesterday during the monthly meeting with senior Police officers.

    The IG also described the actions of the El-Zakzaky Islamic Movement of Nigeria members as un-Islamic.

    He said: “I have set up a committee headed by the DIG Department of Operations comprising the United Nations Organs, the ECOWAS and the Presidential Committee on Prohibition of Small Arms and Light Weapons (PRESCOM) and other critical stakeholders for the destruction of illegal weapons retrieved from members of the public before the 2019 General Election.

    “They will destroy about 10,000 illegal firearms and prohibited weapons and over  26,000 illegal ammunition recovered in the mop-up operations of illegal firearms and prohibited weapons  currently ongoing throughout the country.”

    The IG warned that the Force would longer tolerate negligence on the part of Commissioners of Police in preventing crisis.

    He urged them to be proactive in dealing with crises, noting that much is expected from them before, during and after the general elections.

    He said: “The Government and the people expect much from us in ensuring security and safety of all Nigerians throughout the country as we go into the 2019 general elections.

    “The Force will no longer tolerate laxity on the part of any Commissioner of Police, who fails to be proactive in dealing with crisis and other violent crimes in their area of responsibilities (AOR).

    “We have to do more in ensuring adequate security throughout the country from now on to the election and beyond.”

    On the crisis in the FCT caused by members of the El-Zakzaky Islamic Movement of Nigeria, the IG said: “Most of the El-Zakzaky Islamic Movement of Nigeria’s members were arrested with hard drugs in their possession and these are people that claimed to be Islamic. This makes us to start thinking and questioning them.

    “These youths have been used to cause havoc and I think the group should just be called El-Zakzaky because I don’t see anything Islamic about them.

    “These are people who are trying to bring problem of security to the country and the strategies applied by the police were the best.

    “I think our actions are commendable because our confrontation with them has not led to any death and that was because we were trying to avoid using too much force in tackling the situation.

    “Our response has to be measured because these are Nigerians who are misguided.  So, we need to apply strategies to handle them.”

    The IG added that some of them would be charged to court for terrorism.

  • Police arrest PDP lawmaker, two others over illegal firearms

    The Police in Lagos on yesterday said they had arrested a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly and two others over alleged unlawful possession of firearms.

    The spokesman of the command, CSP Chike Oti, said that the suspects were undergoing interrogations. “The first and second suspect, Wale Oye (37) and Ganiyu Ajiboluwa (47), were arrested on July 12, at about 5.45 p.m. by a team of Inspector-General of Police X-Squad operatives on patrol at Apple Junction, along Festac extension, Amuwo Odofin.

    “A single barrel Mossverg pump action rifle with identification No. B/NO D512429, one Zirve Magnum pump action rifle with No. B/NO 45639 and two live cartridges were recovered from the suspects. “However, during interrogation, the suspects claimed the guns were given to them by one Dipo Olorunrinu, 47 years, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Lagos State House of Assembly, to escort him to a political rally,” Oti said in a statement.

    The spokesman said that the lawmaker was arrested and admitted ownership of the guns. “To further prove that the weapons were his, he produced expired licences dated 2015 and 2016, respectively. “He could not justify his refusal to surrender the guns during the window period offered in the last nationwide mop up of illegal firearms and ammunition exercise. Investigation is in progress and further findings on the matter will be communicated to the general public as usual,“he said.

    The lawmaker could not be reached for his response to the story. Efforts to contact him on his mobile phones were unsuccessful as his lines were still switched off at the time of filing in this report.

  • Illegal firearms: Police receive 15 guns in Ondo

    Ondo State Police Command has received more than 15 guns from the public, Police Commissioner Olugbenga Adeyanju has said.

    Adeyanju, who spoke yesterday at a news conference in Akure, said the submission of guns by the public was in line with the directive of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to mop up illegal firearms.

    He said the submission was not connected to the amnesty programme organised by the government.

    Adeyanju said: “In compliance with the IGP’s directive, I am delighted to inform you that the turnout of people for submission of weapons has been fairly impressive.

    “While some people were courageous to voluntarily return the arms in their possessions, we recovered guns from cultists and robbers, who have been prosecuted in Owo.

    “Others made their submission by using one of our suggestions boxes at the headquarters to inform us where they kept their arms, to enable us to go and pick them.”

    He said although submission date had lapsed, the command wanted to give opportunity to those who, for one reason or the other, could not meet up with the ultimatum, but were still willing to submit their arms.

    The police boss said: “We want to reiterate that whoever is found or caught with any weapon after the grace-period will have himself to blame. So it is better late than never.”

    The command paraded Abel Joseph, a taxi driver, who was said to have been caught with 20 bags of Indian hemp on Owo-Akure Road.

    Adeyanju said the suspect would be handed over to NDLEA officials for investigation and prosecution.

  • Illegal firearms case stalled again

    The trial of Sulaiman Sanusi, one of the children of the late industrialist, Chief Abdul Rasak Sanusi, for alleged firearms possession, has stalled again at a Lagos Magistrates’ Court, Igbosere.

    The case has suffered several adjournments since trial began in 2015.

    Last Wednesday, Magistrate Omolola Omotosho informed the litigants that the court could not proceed with the trial as Wednesdays have been dedicated to the hearing of family cases.

    She adjourned to a date to be communicated by the court registrars.

    According to the charge, Sanusi is also standing trial for alleged disobedience of a Lagos High Court order directing him to, among others, surrender all documents relating to his father’s estate in his possession.

    The alleged offences contravene Sections 4 of the Firearms Act, 2004 and  104 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2011.

    The case was originally allocated to Mrs Adeola Adedayo before whom the defendant was arraigned.

    However, after Magistrate Adedayo raised the alarm that her life was being threatened, the then Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Olufunmilayo Atilade re-assigned the case to Magistrate Omotosho.

    Sanusi pleaded not guilty in both arraignments.

    Besides this trial, over 13 cases filed by different Sanusi siblings are pending at various state high courts.

     

  • Trial resumes in illegal firearms case tomorrow

    A  Lagos Magistrates’ Court will tomorrow resume the trial of Suleiman Sanusi, son of the late industrialist, Chief Abdul-Rasak Sanusi, for alleged illegal firearms possession.

    Sanusi is also standing trial for alleged disobedience of a Lagos High Court order to, among others, surrender all documents relating to his father’s estate in his possession.

    According to the police, both offences contravene Sections 4 of the Firearms Act, 2004 and 104 of the Criminal Law of Lagos, 2011.

    The case, which has been on for about two years, was stalled last July 28, following Magistrate Omolola Omotosho’s absence.

    It was originally allocated to Magistrate Adeola Adedayo before it was transferred to Omotosho.

  • IG orders mop-up of illegal firearms

    IG orders mop-up of illegal firearms

    The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Solomon Arase has directed Commissioners of Police (CPs) to mop-up illegal firearms in their areas of jurisdiction.

    Arase said the order became imperative following the increasing rate of proliferation and engagement of prohibited firearms, adding that the directive is aimed at ensuring adequate protection of lives and property.

    This was contained in a statement by the Force spokesperson, Olabisi Kolawole.

    The statement listed some of the prohibited firearms under the Firearms Act to include: “Artillery, apparatus for the discharge of any explosives or gas-diffusing projectile, revolvers and pistols, machine guns and pistols, rocket weapons and military rifles, including those with calibre 7.62mm, 9mm, .300 inches and .303inches.”

    The force also said its intelligence and operational assets will be deployed to  arrest and prosecute anyone who fails to surrender his/her arms or renew requisite licenses for non-prohibited firearms.

    The statement reads: “Such modalities will include a reward system for informants whose information shall lead to the location and recovery of such weapons and arrest of the culprits.”

    Arase urged those in possession of non-prohibited firearms to renew their licenses before July.

     

  • Aregbesola reads riot act on possession of illegal arms

    Aregbesola reads riot act on possession of illegal arms

    The Osun State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, on Tuesday read a riot act to people in possession of illegal weapons.

    Receiving the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by his government to look into the crises between Ipetumodu and Ashipa communities in Ife-North Local government of Osun at the Government House in Osogbo., he ordered that they should voluntarily surrender such arms to relevant authorities.
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    According to him, those concerned, who are habitually breaching the peace and trampling on the rule of law should prepare themselves ahead of the May 29 to hand over arms in their passion after which he said they would enjoy one week of grace to do so.

    Describing the one week grace as a week of peace and disarmament, the governor disclosed that his government had set up a Standing Commission of Inquiry in the state to regularly review all cases of abuse of power or status that may threaten peace and harmonious relationship in the state.

    Aregbesola also called on politicians and people with those he called “Private Army” and guards to immediately disband such structures as the state is entering an era where it will be strict on the maintenance of rule of law, peace and order and the guarantee of the rights of the citizen.

    The communities of Ipetumodu and Ashipa had engaged in an orgy of violence and were on the path of mutual destruction before the intervention of law enforcement agencies, the state government and other leaders.‎

    He held that people should exhibit maturity in making claims to land so that communities will not witness violence that will diminish human existence.

    The governor advised that differences on land should not lead to violence due to the fact that there will always be claims and counter claims on land hence the need for a matured way of resolving such issues.

    According to him: “People with illegal weapons should voluntarily submit it to relevant authorities in not more than one week from now before government begins to fish them out.

    “People should live to the dictate of the law, our government will after the one week ultimatum embark on house-to-house search for illegal weapons so that the state can have peace.

    “Whoever is caught after the one week deadline will face the full wrath of the law because we are not in a stone age. The state will care for the weak. We are admonishing the strong to be mindful of those that are not strong.

    “We are entering an era in the state and the country at large, where government of All Progressives Congress (APC) will be strict on the issue of rule of law, maintenance of peace and order and the guarantee of rights of citizens.”

    He charged people of the state to at all times, resort to Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) rather than result to violence and arson when issues like land dispute arise.

    Earlier, the Chairman of the judicial commission of inquiry into Ipetumodu-Ashipa communal crisis, Justice Jide Falola, urged the governor to set up implementation committee to review the recommendations.

    The committee recommended on the payment of compensation to victims noted that the two communities should be surcharged to pay certain for officially sponsoring and supporting the crises morally and materially.

    He also recommended that Ife-North local government should also be surcharged for allowing the establishment of market in Ipetumodu on a government acquired land without approval from the state government.

    He said: “We have virtually resolved the dispute between the two communities especially the market day issue and boundary. We have also recommended that some persons be investigated and possible prosecution.

    “There is a proliferation of arms and ammunition in the axis of the two communities. Those in possession are reportedly being protected by elites in the society. We have recommended that police should take steps to clean up the area of these dangerous weapons.”