A war appears to be brewing between operatives of the Nigerian Customs Service, Abuja and those of the Inspector-General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team as they bicker over the agency that has the right to question and detain a suspected gunrunner.
The alleged gunrunner, Ifeuwa Moses, was reportedly arrested for smuggling 1,570 pieces of Pump Action rifles into Nigeria via two 20 feet containers in September 2017.
Although the container was discovered by the NCS, they didn’t have any suspect.
When news of the interception spread, a company, Great James Oil and Gas Limited, which name was used in importing the rifles, came up for investigation.
When the owner of the company, Ayogu Great James, heard his company mentioned, he swiftly went to Customs office in Abuja to explain himself.
James told them that someone used the name of his company for nefarious purpose and he would like to work with them to catch the culprits.
According to him, rather than work with him, the customs operatives detained him for three months and even charged him to court.
When he was granted bail, he petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, urging him to fish out those behind the importation of the guns.
The IGP instructed his IRT team, led by Deputy Commissioner of Police Abba Kyari, to investigate the matter.
The IRT swung into action and started picking the suspects one after another, until they caught Moses, believed to be the brain behind the importation.
As the IRT operatives were arresting the suspects, they were handing them over to officials of the NCS.
While NCS were quizzing the suspects, IRT continued to dig.
At a point, the operatives wrote to the NCS, asking that Moses should be released to them.
According to them, they needed to find out from him his distribution network of the rifles.
The NCS allegedly refused to hand Moses over to the policemen.
Since then, the relationship between the two sister agencies, which ordinarily should be that of synergizing to stop infiltration of arms into the country and checking their movement into the hands of criminals, had become tense.
Umeh Festus Emeka is the clearing agent for Moses.
His modus operandi is to allegedly steal unsuspecting people’s company names and use it to clear illegal importation.
His downfall started after IRT operatives received tip-off that his friend, Moses, residing in Turkey, had been illegally importing arms into Nigeria.
Police believe these arms end up in the hands of criminals.
An IRT source disclosed: “Some of the arms recovered by the IRT men across the country from kidnappers, armed robbers and members of the Boko Haram terrorist group, bear similarity with those intercepted by the Nigeria Customs Service at the Tin-Can Island Port, Lagos.
“Operatives discovered during investigations that Emeka and his accomplice, had over time succeeded in smuggling arms into Nigeria, using names of reputable companies. These suspects used to declare the arms as household items.”
The Federal Ministry of Justice on October 16, 2018 arraigned James, whose company’s name: Great James Oil and Gas Limited, was used in importing these arms into Nigeria.
Emeka, 48, confessed to have used different companies’ names, bank accounts, RC and Tax Verification numbers of people to carry out his business.
According to him, James and his company had no knowledge that he used his company’s details and bank account to facilitate the importation.
He further admitted to have become a clearing agent in 1989, but didn’t have a Clearing Licence.
His words: “I clear people’s goods with other clearing agents’ licenses. A lot of clearing agents do that and I equally fill the ‘Form M, SON CAP and PAAR’ with any company’s name and details at my disposal without the knowledge and permission of the owners.”
Emeka admitted to have used James Company’s name and account number to perfect so many documents, which he used in clearing goods.
He said: “I was also the person that cloned James’s Tax Income Number at the FIRS, so as to make it easy for me to always complete any ‘Form M’ I want to use for a consignment. He is not an importer, neither is he a clearing agent, but I got his account number from him while we were living in the same compound in Lagos State.
“I told James in 2012 that my account had issues; that some people I worked for needed to transfer money to me. He believed and trusted me. He gave me his account details. Thus, whenever my clients pay money into it, he would withdrew and hand over to me. There was no time he asked me to use his account for any other business. I used his company’s name, falsify his RC number and while filling the ‘Form M’. I wanted to use his company’s name to claim the deposit I made to the shipping agency on the container I cleared. ‘Great James Oil and Gas Limited,’ wasn’t the only company’s details I had used. There are several others.”
Emeka explained that the business transaction that got him into trouble, leading to the police sniffing around him was a consignment from Moses, living in Turkey.
“What was listed on the bill of laden sent to me was just household items, but I didn’t know that large quantities of fire arms were in it,” claimed Emeka. “Moses paid me N2.5million, which was the usual amount for any clearing job I do for him or his cronies. I met Moses through one of my customers, Simon Adonu, also based in Turkey. I have cleared so many goods for both of them for many years. Moses also linked me to some of his friends, who were into importation in Onitsha Anambra State.”
When Emeka realized that officials of the Nigerian Customs discovered that the containers were filled with arms, he was shocked and quickly fled the scene.
Fuming, he called Moses to brief him on what had happened.
Moses didn’t pretend to be surprised, he calmly asked Emeka to leave Nigeria.
Emeka ran to Ghana, where Moses and some of his friends started sending money to him for feeding.
They didn’t want him to have any reason to return to Nigeria.
Emeka said: “At a time, I felt unsafe in Ghana. I ran to Cote d’Ivoire. While I was there, I learned that Moses had been arrested by police and handed over to Customs. He told them I was aware that the content of the containers were guns. I got angry and returned to Nigeria. I wanted police to arrest me, so that they would hear my story. My story is that Moses used and deceived me. He paid me only N2.5m for a dirty job like that, and after getting out the container for him, the only profit I make most times is often not more than N100, 000. If I had known that there were large quantities of arms in those containers, I wouldn’t have accepted the job. And if I did, I had demand a larger amount of money. I wouldn’t need to use Great James Company’s name because he knows me very well, and could always report me to the authorities.”
James, who insisted that he was innocent of smuggling arms into the country, explained that he presented himself before the NCS in Abuja when his company’s name was linked to the intercepted guns.
He offered to assist NCS to arrest anyone involved in the illegal importation, using his company’s name.
Though he was the person that went to NCS without being invited, Customs still detained him for three months.
He said he was shocked when Customs and the Ministry of Justice, after all his efforts, arraigned him and his company, while leaving out some suspects.
He said those left out of the charge and arraignment were bankers and clearing agents, who over time allegedly played active roles in the arms importation.
James said: “When I heard my company’s name was linked to the illegal importation intercepted at the Tin-Can Island Sea Port, Lagos, I wrote to the Nigerian Customs Service in Abuja, alerting them that I had no hand in it. I wrote to the Customs, but got no response. I then had to go over and present myself to them. They detained me for three months. While in custody, I offered to assist them in their investigations. When they brought the ‘Form M,’ which actually linked my company to the case, I went through it and discovered that the RC, TIN, and Phone numbers on the Form M were not mine. The email address and the signature were also not mine. Since I had never imported any goods into the country all my life, I urged the Customs’ officials to invite my account officer at First City Monument Bank, FCMB, which was where the Form M, was raised. The account officer said he wasn’t aware of such a transaction. He then referred the officials to the International Trade Section, ITS, of the bank where it was discovered that the Head of Operations Jude Ezirim, at the bank’s branch on Warehouse Road Apapa, Lagos, was the banker who supervised usage of my company’s name and account number in filling a Form M, that I had no link or business with.
“Ezirim told the officials that it was part of his duty to ensure that the information filed by an applicant on the Form M tallies with those on the applicant’s account opening details. He said he failed to check the details because he saw my forged signature on the application form. The worst part was that I wasn’t even debited, which was a standard procedure. He didn’t carry out the standard procedure because he knew that that would have alerted me as to what they were doing with my account. Ezimrim confessed to the Customs that Chidioke Ogbuezi, was the person who brought my company’s name, account and other details to him to fill. Concerning the containers filled with arms, he said Ogbuezi paid him N40,000 to perfect the Form M. He further confessed that he had done this transaction for Ogbuezi on two other occasions and was given N50,000 and N60,000. In spite of this, Ezirim was granted bail even when his bank refused to stand as his surety. He was asked to go, while I was detained. Luckily, my family through the aid of the police arrested Ogbuezi and four other clearing agents, excluding Emeka who had been using my company’s name for illegalities. They were brought to the Customs and confessed that Emeka gave them my company’s name, which they used in several transactions without my knowledge. It was also discovered that one of this clearing agents had at one time raised a Form M with my company’s name in a bank I didn’t have an account. I marveled at the rate these agents forge documents. Yet, Customs granted them bail while I was detained. Luckily, my personal investigation revealed that a company known as Concerned Men Limited, which was on the bill of laden, were the real importers of the Pump Action rifles. But surprisingly, Customs officials refused to go after them. My lawyers raised a point on that, and having spent three months in their custody, the Customs officials agreed to grant me bail on the condition that I produce Emeka and the owner of ‘Concerned Men Limited.’”
When James was released, he petitioned the IGP, urging him to arrest all those who used his company’s name to smuggle guns into the country.
The IGP approved the petition and instructed the IRT to investigate.
They rearrested Egbuezi and four other clearing agents released by the Customs.
While this drama was playing out, information came that owner of Concerned Men Limited, Moses, who is also the importer, had just breezed into Nigeria.
Police arrested and handed him over to Customs.
Some months after the arrest of Moses, Emeka also waltzed into Nigeria and was also grabbed.
James said: “When I urged police to hand Emeka to Customs, they refused, explaining that they needed to uncover the distribution network of the guns. On two occasions, I can attest that the police wrote to the Customs indicating that Emeka was in their custody and that they needed Moses, the importer, to help their investigations. But Customs refused to hand him over.”