Police nab man conveying 53 AK47 magazines, 260 live ammunitions
Arms control centre frowns at illegal flow of weapons
The Nasarawa State command of the Nigeria Police Force said it had apprehended one Likita Abubakar, a 35-year-old man who was conveying 53 AK-47 magazines and 260 rounds of live ammunition through the state.
Daily Trust on Sunday learnt that the suspect was heading towards Jos, Plateau when he was intercepted.
The police public relations officer of the command, ASP Ramhan Nansel, said a team of police personnel on patrol, alongside members of the Federal Road
Safety Corps (FRSC), intercepted the suspect at Alushi junction in Akwanga Local Government Area while he was conveying the weapons and arrested him.
“A suspected criminal who has been on the wanted list of the Nasarawa State police command for offences ranging from armed robbery to kidnapping was sighted today at Alushi junction, Akwanga.
A detachment of police operatives attached to Akwanga were immediately deployed to the area and one Likita Abubakar, a 35-yearold man, was arrested and we were able to recover 53 empty magazines, 260 rounds of live ammunition and N38,500 cash as exhibits.”
In a related development, the police image maker said a Toyota Camry with registration number, Abuja RBU 267 EU, which was stolen in New Nyanya, Karu Local Government Area of the state, was recovered by officers of the command.
Meanwhile, the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) has frowned at the free flow of both small arms and light weapons into the country through land borders and the maritime domain.
The centre, however, said it had signed a pact with the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and the National Drug Law
Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to get rid the country of illegal arms and light weapons.
The national coordinator of the NCCSALW, Major-General Abba Dikko (retd), sought ties with the agencies when he paid separate courtesy visits to their leaders.
According to a statement by the director of strategic communication and information, NCCSALW, Group Captain Ewejide Akintinde, the coordinator also sought the partnership of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), while decrying the increase of illicit arms and weapons across the country.
Dikko noted that the aim of the visits was to acquaint the organisations with the core functions and objectives of the NCCSALW and leverage on the unique capabilities of the agencies to achieve a common aim.
Responding, the chairman and chief executive officer of the NDLEA, Brigadier-General Mohammed Buba Marwa (retd), maintained that the fight against illicit arms was a mustwin.
Marwa implored the NCCSALW boss not to relent in his effort to deliver the mandates of the Centre, pledging to extend his support.
In the same vein, the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo, commended the timely inauguration of the NCCSALW in spear-heading the eradication of illicit arms in the country.