I engaged in gun-running business to make quick money,says Corps member

By Funmi Bewaji

The Lagos State Police Command have arrested a  29-year-old Ashiwobel Joseph, a National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, member, who had been transporting arms from Calabar, the Cross River State capital, to Lagos,

Ashiwobel was said to have concealed the arms inside foodstuff before taking them to a transport company that would convey them to Lagos, from where his accomplice who would be waiting at the park would pick them up.

However, luck ran against the graduate of Biology Education of the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, 

when the bag containing the arms was mistakenly handed over to one Aji Augustine, a resident of Ibeju Lekki Lagos.

Augustine said the arms were found in a bag containing food items which he thought was sent to him by his mother.

He said,  “I sent money to my mother to buy foodstuff from our village in Obudu, Cross River. On the agreed date, I went to the park and was given two bags filled with foodstuff. On reaching the house, my wife started unpacking the products.

“She had finished unpacking the first bag but when she opened the second bag, she noticed a brown cartoon that was heavy and sealed. The cartoon was squeezed in between tubers of yam. By the time she opened it, she screamed at the sight of the guns.”

He said he had to contact his mother to know what are therein in the bag which he picked up at the park, only to discover he had mistakenly taken another person’s bag.

Augustine explained that he received

calls severally from the driver of the vehicle to inform him that he picked a wrong bag, while he was on his way to the police station.

The driver of the vehicle was subsequently apprehended, while Joseph and Snatcher reportedly went into hiding when they got wind of the driver’s arrest.

 The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, Abiodun Alabi,  ordered operatives of the CP Special Squad to track down the fleeing suspects, consequent upon which Joseph was arrested some days after.

Upon his arrest, Joseph said,  “I was posted to Lagos for my Youth Service, where I met a man called Snatcher.

“During the discussion, he told me he needed arms, that there were ready buyers here in Lagos.

“I had to contact a Cameroonian named Justin, whom I met about four years ago, during the war at the border town in Calabar. He was supplying guns to the fighters and he gave us N5,000 to allow him passage. He was into that business until the war in Cameroon ended.

“He sold the seven guns to me for N150,000. But I didn’t want to travel with it because of fear of possible arrest. So, I decided to waybill it to Snatcher. I tucked them in between tubers of yam and fish. No one would have noticed it had the bag not been opened.

“I was waiting for Snatcher’s call to confirm receipt of the consignment. But when he did, he told me the bag he got from the driver was empty. That was when we discovered it was mistakenly switched.

“We contacted the driver who called the man that picked up the bag. By the time he went to meet the man, he was arrested. I had to hand myself over to the Police to exonerate the bus driver who was not aware that the bag I gave to him contained arms.”

Asked if this was the first time he was transporting arms to Lagos, he shook his head and replied: “No, this is my second time. I know what I did was wrong but I wanted to make fast money. I was given N250,000 to buy the guns but I bought it for N150,000 and made N100,000.”