Police, Navy arrest 15 Russians for smuggling arms, ammunition

Barely a year that the Nigerian Navy Ship, Andonis, was commissioned, it has started showing it worth. Recently, the ship, with its crew, put an end to the nefarious activities of a 15-man Russian crew, for smuggling dangerous weapons.
The vessel, Merchant Vessel Myre Sea Diver Avatiu, was impounded on October 19, 2012, at the Lagos Roadstead of the nation’s waterways by some naval officers over illegal entry into the nation’s waterways.
The alien ship was also held for what had been described as non-declaration of the content of the ship, which contained cache of arms and ammunitions. At least 8,598 ammunition, 14 AK47 rifles and 20 Benelli MRI rifles were discovered after the ship was searched.
On Monday, the navy officially handed over the suspects to officers of the Special Fraud Unit, Force Criminal and Investigation Department at the Western Naval Command, Apapa, Lagos State.
Commodore Martin Njoku, Commanding Officer, NNS Beecroft, explained that the handing over of the suspects was necessary because the navy did not have the power to prosecute suspects.
Njoku said the Nigerian Navy has confidence in officers of the Nigeria Police Force to carry out a thorough investigation. Njoku said the navy was releasing only the crew members to the police and not the vessel and ammunition.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police, SFU, Bashiru Muazu, who received the suspects, said that the police would immediately swing into action in carrying on the investigations from where the naval authourity stopped.
Muazu said that the suspects would be held in detention until completion of the investigation.
According to him, the police would find out who the weapons belonged to, the destinations the foreigners were taking the arms to and what it was intended for.