AFP, Lagos, October 29, 2010 – An illegal arms shipment which included rockets and grenades discovered in Nigeria this week was loaded in Iran by an Iranian trader, the firm that operates the vessel that delivered it said on Friday.
Security agents this week intercepted 13 containers declared as building materials and discharged from the CMA CGM Everest vessel at the country’s busiest port of Apapa near Lagos.
’The shipment in question was booked as a ’shippers owned container’ and supplied loaded and sealed by the shipper, an Iranian trader who does not appear on any ’forbidden persons’ listing,’ said CMA CGM, which operates the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel.
CMA CGM, based in France, said the containers were loaded in Bandar Abbas, a southern port city of Iran, and discharged in Lagos in July.
But last week the shipper asked to have the containers reloaded and sent to the Gambia, a tiny west African country wedged inside Senegal, according to the firm.
Clearance had been obtained before Nigerian customs intervened and halted the shipment, according to CMA CGM.
A Nigerian intelligence agency spokeswoman has said authorities were on heightened alert following October 1 twin car bombings in the capital that killed at least 12 people.
Ten of the containers opened so far contain an array of weaponry, customs spokesman Wale Adeniyi said. The contents had been declared as building materials.
CMA CGM said it has been cleared of any involvement in the illegal shipment and called itself the ’victim of (a) false cargo declaration.’
Two people have reportedly been arrested in connection with the cargo, but security officials have not confirmed the reports.
Authorities have publicly refused to speculate on the origins or destination of the shipment.