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AGF Makes Plea To Keep Firearm Importers In Detention

In the charges, the AGF said the accused brought 661 pump-action rifles into the country from Turkey through the Apapa Port in Lagos, using a 40-foot container, which they falsely claimed contained steel doors.

The office Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, on Monday urged the Federal High Court in Lagos not to release four members of a gang who allegedly imported 661 pump-action rifles into the country without lawful authority.

The prosecuting counsel from the office of the AGF, K.A. Fagbemi, while opposing the bail applications filed by the accused, told the court that releasing the defendants on bail would endanger the Nigerian public.

Mr. Fagbemi, who noted that one of the five accused accused persons was still at large, argued further that it was not healthy for the court to release the other four on bail, as their lives could be at risk.

"He's still out there. He could be a risk to their own lives. It's one of the grounds on which the defendants should not be granted bail for their own good," Mr. Fagbemi said.

The accused - Mahmud Hassan, Oscar Okafor, Donatus Achinulo, Salihu Danjuma, and Matthew Okoye, said be at large - had been arraigned by the AGF on June 14 for illegally importing 661 pump-action rifles into the country.

They were arraigned on eight counts before Justice Ayokunle Faji, who ordered that they should be remanded in the prison custody after they had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

At Monday's proceedings, the defense counsel - Yakubu Galadima, Godwin Okaka, Olumide Oyewole and Adamu Ibrahim - brought bail applications for their clients, promising that if they were released on bail they would make themselves available for their trial and not abscond.

Mr. Oyewole told the court that his client was ill and needed medical treatment, showing a medical report issued by the Isolo General Hospital.

But the Federal Government's lawyer opposed them and urged the court to dismiss the bail applications.

After entertaining arguments from both sides, Justice Faji adjourned till June 6, 2017 for ruling.

In the charges, the AGF said the accused brought 661 pump-action rifles into the country from Turkey through the Apapa Port in Lagos, using a 40-foot container, which they falsely claimed contained steel doors.

To facilitate the illegal importation, the accused allegedly forged a number of documents, including a bill of lading, a Form M and a Pre-Arrival Assessment Report.

According to the prosecution, in order to evade payment of Customs duty, the accused allegedly forged a bill of lading issued in Istanbul on January 9, 2017, falsely claiming that it was issued in Shanghai, China.

In the forged bill of lading, they allegedly filled “steel doors” as the contents of the container instead of rifles.

They were also said to have offered a bribe of N400,000 to an official of the Nigeria Customs Service attached to the Federal Operative Unit to dissuade the officer from conducting a “one hundred percent search on the 40-feet container with number PONU 825914/3."

The prosecution also alleged that the first accused, Mr. Hassan, corruptly gave N1m to government officials at the Apapa Port in order to prevent the search of the container by Customs officials.

In the last count, the Federal Government alleged that the defendants had, between 2012 and 2016, illegally imported several double-barreled shotguns, pump-action rifles and single-barreled shotguns into the country through Lagos.

The eight counts pressed against them border on conspiracy, importation of prohibited firearms, forgery, uttering of forged documents, and bribery.

The offenses were said to be contrary to sections 1(2)(c), 1(14) (a)(i) and 3(6) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act Cap M17, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2014.

Upon their arraignment on June 14, they pleaded not guilty to the charges.

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Federal High Court of Nigeria

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CRIME Legal