Two years after it was seized on suspicion of containing illegal
explosives, the two containers were yesterday released to the consignee,
Primetake, manufacturers of specialist ammunition and explosives, by the
Nigerian Navy Ordinance Depot (NOD), in Lagos.
It was gathered that the release of the containers containing
1000 riot runner launchers and 320 smoke tear gas grenade explosives, was after
the Nigerian Navy Headquarters (NHQ) issued a directive to the NOD on April 15,
2014.
The containers were first searched before it handed over to
the consignee in the presence of key stakeholders such as the Nigerian Police,
Department of State Services, Nigerian Maritime Agency (NIMASA), the Nigerian
Customs Services (NCS) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
The search it was gathered was to ascertain whether what was
in the manifest, tallied with what was in the the containers, and as such, the
naval personnel on ground offloaded the explosives which were packed in crates.
Some of the crates were opened and its contents tallied with
the manifest and were approved by all the stakeholders as genuine before it was
agreed that the container could be taken away by the consignee.
In an interview afterwards, the Deputy Admiral
Superintendent, NOD, Commodore Dogara Albehu, said "The containers were seized in January 2012 by the
maritime component of NIMASA that the navy attached to them. They were seized
on suspicion of illegality and now the due process has been followed right from
the office of the National Security Adviser to the NHQ and to us the custodians
of the consignments.
"Thus, the Federal Government has directed the release
of the consignment because due process has been followed in ascertaining the
genuineness of the products."
Afterwards, all the key stakeholders signed the release form
to the consignee who also countersigned to acknowledge that he had received the
two containers from the navy.
Representative of the consignee, Isaac Ebubeogu who
expressed his happiness at the release of the containers, said it was imported
from China for the Nigerian Police.
He said, "Sometime in January 2012, there was an alert
by NIMASA that there was importation of illegal explosion and as it maybe, our
own containers were around the port, so what they did was to commandeer the
whole containers irrespective of the owners,
Later on, a meeting was schedule for the owners to prove the
ownership. The agent we sent to clear us with the relevant documents went to
NNS Beecroft instead of NOD and by the time he realised his mistake, the
meeting was over.
"So it took us two years to initiate the move which was
backed by countless writings before it was released now. We have been working
with the police for over 15 years and we continued despite the hitch."
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