John Adams, Minna
Two suspects, a Beninese and a Nigerian, arrested for smuggling 200,000 rounds of live firearm cartridges into the country, will soon be charged to court in Minna, the Niger State capital.
Bukari Dauda, a Nigerian, and Martins Anokwara, a Beninese, were arrested in July 2018, at the Nigeria- Benin Republic border at Banana in Borgu local government area of Niger State with 200,000 rounds of live cartridges loaded in a utility vehicle.
Related: Smugglers kill Customs officer, injure another in Ogun
They were transfered to Abuja and detained at the Kuje prison while investigations into the case was ongoing.
The duo were brought to Minna, the Niger State capital, on Monday for their prosecution and are presently being kept at the Minna maximum security prison.
The Customs Area Comptroller in charge of Niger, Kwara and Kogi area command, Abba Kassim, confirmed the report in Minna on Thursday when he paid a courtesy visit to the state Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Chairman Abdul Idris at the IBB Pen house.
Kassim did not say when the prosecution of the suspects would commence.
He said the two suspects would be tried for smuggling.
“We cannot try them for gun running, it is not our mandate; we will only try them for smuggling,” Kassim said.
He disclosed that three other suspects were presently being prosecuted in Minna for alleged smuggling, adding that “it takes a long time for these cases to be completed.”