Accused Persons Knows Fate July 6 On Importation Of 661 Pump-Action Rifles
Justice Ayokunle Faji of Federal High Court in Lagos will on July 6 decide whether or not to grant five men, five-man gang who allegedly imported 661 pump-action rifles into the country without lawful authority bail pending trial.
The accused persons: Mahmud Hassan, Oscar Okafor, Donatus Achinulo, Matthew Okoye, said be at large, and Salihu Danjuma, were arraigned before the court by the federal government on an eight count charge of conspiracy, importation of prohibited firearms, forgery, uttering of forged documents, and bribery.
The accused persons, who were arrested on January 21, 1017 at Nigerian Port Authority in Lagos by men of the Nigeria Customs Service, were said to have brought the rifles into the country from Turkey, using a 40-feet container, which they falsely claimed contained steel doors.
The government also claimed that in order to facilitate the illegal importation, the accused allegedly forged a number of documents including a bill of lading, a Form M and a Pre-Arrival Assessment Report.
They, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Monday, the federal government through its counsel, Kayode Fagbemi urged Justice Faji not to grant the accused persons bail because it would not be healthy for them to be released into the society on bail.
Fagbemi also maintained that lives of the accused persons might be at risk because one of their accomplices is still at large.
The lawyer said, “He’s still out there. He could be a risk to their own lives. It’s one of our grounds in support of our objection to the bail application that the accused persons should not be granted bail for their own good”.
But the defence counsel, Yakubu Galadima, Godwin Okaka, Olumide Oyewole and Adamu Ibrahim urged the court to grant their clients bail, promising that if they were released on bail they would not abscond but make themselves available for their trial.
One of the lawyers, Oyewole told the court that his client was ill and needed medical treatment, showing a medical report issued by the Isolo General Hospital.
Justice Faji has adjourned the case till July 6, 2017 for ruling.
In the charges, the federal government had alleged that in order to evade payment of Customs duty, the accused allegedly forged a bill of lading issued at Istanbul on January 9, 2017, falsely claiming that it was issued at Shanghai, China.
In the forged bill of lading, they allegedly filled “steel door” as the content of the container instead of rifles.
They were also said to have allegedly offered a bribe of N400,000 to an official of the Nigeria Customs Service attached to the Federal Operative Unit to influence the said officer not to conduct a “hundred per cent search on the 40-feet container with number PONU 825914/3.”
The prosecution also alleged that the first accused, Hassan, corruptly gave N1m to government officials at the Apapa Port in order to prevent the search of the container by Customs officials.
In the last count, the Federal Government alleged that the defendants had between 2012 and 2016 illegally imported several double-barreled shotguns, pump-action rifles and single-barreled shotguns into the country through Lagos.
The eight counts pressed against them border on conspiracy, importation of prohibited firearms, forgery, uttering of forged documents, and bribery.
The offences were said to be contrary to sections 1(2)(c), 1(14) (a)(i) and 3(6) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act Cap M17, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2014.
