Four persons including an Iranian, Azim Aghajani (left), arraigned at the Magistrate’s Court, Wuse 2, Abuja for alleged involvement in the illegal shipment of arms to Nigeria ...on Thursday.
The State Security Service on Thursday arraigned an Iranian, Azim Aghajani, and three others in connection with the importation of the arms and ammunition seized by intelligence agencies at the Apapa port in Lagos.
The other suspects arraigned at an Abuja Magistrate’s Court were Ali Jega, Aliu Wamako, and Muhammed Umar.
Lawyer to the SSS, Mr. Moses Idakwo, told the court that the quantity and quality of the seized arms could sink a whole nation in just three hours.
The Iranian and the other suspects, who were described as international businessmen, were remanded in the SSS custody by Chief Magistrate Hafsat Soso till January 31, 2011 to enable the service to have easy access to them .
Soso, however, asked the SSS to allow family members of the accused, their lawyers and their doctors access to them in the interest of justice and fairness.
The suspects were accused of bringing into Nigeria 13 containers loaded with prohibited firearms between July 7 and 15, 2010.
They were also said to have between October 12 and 25 conspired and imported another 13 containers loaded with similar arms for onward journey to Banjul, the capital of The Gambia.
The alleged offences contravene section 27 of the Firearms Act Cap F28 laws of the Federation of Nigeria.
The Iranian, who was in a pensive mood during the appearance in court refused to allow the court, to take his plea as he insisted on getting legal clearance from his country’s embassy in Abuja.
The other accused persons pleaded not guilty and pleaded for bail.
But Idakwo urged the court to treat the bail requests with caution for now because their offences were international in nature.
Claiming that the United Nations was waiting for the outcome of their trial, he added that the liberty of the accused had been subsumed under national security in which they were arraigned.
Also, the trial of seven persons over the October 1, 2010 bombings in Abuja came up for hearing on Thursday.
Luck, however, smiled on two of them — Earnest Nwosu and Emmanuel Pathfinder — as they were freed by another Abuja Magistrate’s Court.
Their release followed a request by another SSS lawyer, Mr. Charles Osagie, to withdraw the First Information Report filed against them.
Osagie also told the court that the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice had said it was ready to take up the trial of the suspects .
He said that the AGF office would, in a few days time , draft new charges against the remaining suspects — Mr. Charles Okah, Mr. Edmund Ebiware, Mr. Rapheal Damfebo, Mr. Emmanuel Allison and Mr. Obi Nwabueze.
The new charges, according to the SSS lawyer ,will be filed at the Abuja High Court.
Lawyer to Okah, Mr. Oghenovo Otemu, had raised a preliminary objection as to the jurisdiction of the court to hear the matter. Counsel to the four other accused persons aligned themselves with Otemu’s submission.
The court, which ordered that the suspects be given access to their lawyers and family members, fixed December 8, 2010 to hear the argument on their bail applications.
The court which also fixed hearing on the substantive matter for January 17, 2011, ordered that the accused be taken back into the SSS custody.
Contrary to what happened on October 21 when the suspects were arraigned, journalists and relatives of the accused persons were allowed to witness the trial amidst tight security .
Meanwhile, the Agence France Presse on Thursday reported that the arms and trucks intercepted at the Lagos port this week came from Belgium through Germany.
“I can confirm to you that the origin of the impounded consignment of arms, military equipment and vehicles is Belgium. The vessel came to Nigeria via Germany,” AFP quoted Captain Kabir Aliyu of the Nigerian Navy, as saying.He added that those arrested over the illegal shipment were Nigerians, but refused to give details because of an ongoing investigation.The shipment included pistols, hundreds of ammunition, bulletproof jackets, military boots and other related banned items.Officials at the Belgian embassy in Nigeria were not immediately available for comments on the latest shipment.
Source:http://www.punchng.com
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