The Oyo/Osun area command of the Nigerian Customs Service has intercepted 20 cartons of 6/250 rounds of live ammunition along the Shaki-Ago Are axis.
The cartons, containing a total of 30,000 pieces of the deadly items, were seized by the command's anti-smuggling team led by Arikpo Okoi, a Superintendent of Customs, on Monday.
According to the Customs Comptroller in charge of the command, Richard Oteri, the consignment was concealed under sacks of tubers of yam and dried cassava powder in a white Toyota Haice bus with registration number KW 286 SHH.
Oteri said one Abduraheem Adegoke, who drove the vehicle, was also arrested.
While handing over the suspect and the exhibit to the Oyo state Police Command in Ibadan on Tuesday, the Customs boss recalled that his men had earlier recorded similar feat in May last year when 56,750 rounds of live cartridges were intercepted along the same route.
“This monumental seizure is commendable to say the least against the backdrop of the heightened insecurity in the land,” he noted.
While receiving the suspect, the state's Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), Musa Kimo, said the police will commence full investigation into the incident immediately.
He commended the Customs office for collaborating effectively with other security agencies in effort to achieve peaceful atmosphere in the country.
The suspect later told journalists that he never knew the items in his vehicle were live ammunitions.
“The owners contracted me to take the goods to Ibadan for them. I didn’t know the content was live cartridges because they gave me the impression that the sacks contained yam tubers and dried cassava powder.
“I was not with them when they were loading as I left them to attend to other personal issues. I only got to know the content when Customs officials stopped us to search the vehicle,” he said.
The two suspected owners of the goods, according to the Comptroller, escaped at the check point.
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