A man who was charged with illegal importation of 661 pump-action guns has alleged that his gang paid N1m to security operatives to smuggle in the guns at Apapa Port, Lagos. Mahmud Hassan is one of five men facing trial over the act. Others are Oscar Okafor, Donatus Achinulo, Matthew Okoye, said to be at large, and Salihu Danjuma.
The Attorney General of the Federation had said the defendants brought 661 pump-action rifles into Nigeria from Turkey through the Apapa Port in Lagos, using a 40-feet container, which they falsely claimed contained steel doors. In their trial on Monday, Hassan, the first defendant, made the allegation in a video played by the prosecution.
The video showed how Hassan was interrogated by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
“I gave N1m to facilitate the moving of the container out of the port, but it is not because of the guns,” the video captured Hassan as saying.
When Mamadu was asked how the N1m was shared among security agencies, the defendant said, “The examiners were given N200,000, C.I.O. N100,000, enforcement N200,000; police, SSS, between N20,000, N25,000, and N30,000; the toll gates, N200,000, exit gate, N20,000, and final gate, N50,000.”
