Yesterday, about 300,000 cartridges that were concealed and smuggled in trucks into Nigeria through the Benin Republic border. The cartridges were concealed in a false base of three heavy-duty trucks and had successfully gone past borders until they were intercepted at Igbogila-Ilara area of Ogun State.

The trucks were intercepted in Balogun village, near Egua in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun, by military officers attached to the 35 Artillery Brigade of 81 Division, Nigerian Army in Alamala, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

According to reports, the drivers and crew members fled, upon closer inspection, the trucks were deemed empty until the security operatives unearthed the large cache of ammunition. When they opened the metal cover, hundreds of cartons of cartridges of the 12-calibre were found concealed underneath.

The smugglers, allegedly aided by some policemen, tried to deceive security operatives to smuggle the three truckloads of arms and ammunition into the country, through the Ogun State land border.

The smugglers had declared the trucks as empty with the aim of deceiving officials of the Nigerian Customs Service at Owode-Ilaro Road in Ogun, but the officers suspected foul play and played smart on the smugglers’ team, which include some policemen in uniform.