ARMS SEIZURE: NSA MEETS SECURITY CHIEFS

Following the interception of 13 containers, loaded with explosives and other dangerous weapons, Tuesday and his visit to Lagos to get first hand information, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Andrew Azazi (retd), was yesterday locked in over five- hour security meeting with the nation's top security chiefs.

The containers, according to a security source, contained rockets, launchers, hand grenades and ammunition. The inscription on the rocket launchers has manufacturing date 2008, LOT: 353 and 107 å rocket and other inscriptions on some of the containers are Sole 786681 (9) (2291), Sole 786653 (1) (2261), Sole 786961 (2) (2261), Sole 786870 (7) (2261), Sole 786877 (1).

Daily Sun gathered that those present at the meeting were Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petirin, Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Azuka Ihejirika, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sa'ad Ibrahim, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed Dikko Umar, the Director-General of the State Security Services (SSS), Ita Ekpeyong, the DG National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Oladeji Olaniyi, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Hafiz Ringim, among others. The meeting, security sources said, centred more on the arms seizure.

Though details of the meeting were still sketchy as at press time, it was gathered that following the arms haul, the Federal Government had directed stricter security presence at the Apapa Ports, the Onne Port and other major ports across the country to forestall the use of such routes for arms shipments into the country.

It was further learnt that the government had also directed security to be beefed up in all the nation's airports while the army, the air force and the navy had been put on the alert.

A top security source revealed that the Nigerian Navy had been instructed to ensure the dreaded routes in the nation's waterways were policed round the clock to stem any possible shipment of arms into the country through such routes.

'The Navy is put on the alert and has been instructed to strictly monitor all the waterways so that nobody can ship any arm into the country. The President is very concerned over the development and he wants everything possible to be done to reduce it.' President Jonathan had told the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month that Nigeria would spearhead the campaign against the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, stressing that the presence of such small arms in the continent of Africa had led to the deaths of millions of people.