Izuchukwu E.N
Nigerian soldiers at a checkpoint in Adamawa State have intercepted six mine resistance vehicles that seemed to have been transported into Nigeria without due process.
The military personnel attached to the Nigerian Army 23 Armoured Brigade in Yola, seized the equipment in Fufore Local Government Area and the Nigerian Army could not immediately verify the ownership of the equipment, where they were being shipped from and their destination.
Although the Nigerian Army headquarters has directed an urgent investigation into the discovery, the equipment have been handed over to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in the interim.
The commander of 23 Armoured Brigade, S.G. Mohammed, handed over the vehicles to the comptroller of Customs in charge of Adamawa and Taraba, Olumoh Kamaldeen, at a ceremony in Konkol, Fufore LGA. It is not immediately clear whether suspects have been arrested. It is illegal to import such equipment without an end-user certificates from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), which is the only federal agency with powers to issue such document.
The latest seizure of six mine-resistance all terrain vehicles (MATV) came three months after a Nigerian politician, Ibikunle Amosun, handed over weapons he had illegally stockpiled for several years to the police.
