The Nigerian military took delivery of two Boeing 747 jets fully loaded
with ammunition that arrived the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja,
on Wednesday evening.
The first and second jets, which arrived around 4pm and 6pm
respectively, had various forms of sophisticated weapons meant for military
operations in the North-East, according to reliable sources at the airport.
The jets were sighted on the tarmac at the airport on Thursday by
newsmen but were denied access to even get close to them by officials guarding
those who were offloading the cargoes.
It was learnt that the Federal Government’s intensive campaign against
insurgents in the North-East would be boosted with the arrival of the
ammunition.
A security official at the airport, who pleaded not to be named as he
was not authorised to speak on the matter, told our correspondent that “the
ammunition in these massive cargo jets show how determined the government is to
considerably halt the activities of Boko Haram within the six weeks which it
requested from INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission).
“We don’t often see the arrival of heavy ammo like this in this airport.
This one shows there is trouble for insurgents in the North-East.”
Asked of the registration of the foreign cargo jets that brought in the
heavy ammo and where the aircraft came from, our source at the NAIA said, “I
cannot tell where the ammunitions were from but they are being offloaded and
moved to town one after the other.
“The cargo jets are Boeing 747 planes and one of them has LW Italia
written on it. I cannot tell you details because this is a classified operation
and officials of this airport cannot even get close to see clearly other
details of the airplanes. As you can see, this massive cargo plane can carry so
many items than many other cargo jets.”
It was also gathered that the offloading of the jets started since
Wednesday and stretched till Thursday.
The Federal Government had also assured Nigerians that it would reduce
the activities of insurgents within the six-week period.
Tags
Crime