The Ukrainian aircraft seized at the Mallam Aminu Kano Internatio-nal Airport on Tuesday is suspected of having links with Niger Delta militants, THISDAY was informed yesterday.
The aircraft was reportedly loaded with 18 crates of arms and ammunition when it was impounded by security agents, although there is yet no official statement on the development.
The Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) has taken over investigation from the State Security Service (SSS), the newspaper gathered.
It had been reported that the aircraft might have made an emergency stop in Nigeria because of technical problems on its way to Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, but security sources said that the suggestion may not hold water.
Some of the documents and weapons said to have been recovered by men of the Joint Task Force (JTF) during their raid on militants’ Camp 5 allegedly established that Ukraine was a major source of arms and ammunition to the militants.
The sources said intelligence officers are working on the theory that arms were supplied to the militants from Ukraine via Malabo, where they are believed to have a strong network for the weapons they are using in their face-off with the Nigerian military.
Last month, gunmen launched an assault on the Presidential Palace in Equatorial Guinea. It was initially thought to be a coup attempt but the Malabo authorities denied it, accusing Nigerian militants of perpetrating the act.
The gunmen, who stormed Malabo in several gunboats, attacked the presidential palace from the country’s territorial waters around which Equatorial Guinea shared maritime boundary with Nigeria.
According to the government of Equatorial Guinea, “our country was once again the victim of an attack by the rebels of the Niger Delta on the city of Malabo. The Niger Delta crisis is now a major threat to our country. A contingent of rebel terrorists from the Niger Delta arrived in numerous boats and tried to invade the capital city of Malabo, with the aim of taking and destroying the presidential palace”.
It was also being discussed in security circles that the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) might be behind the arms importation because of the militants’ group threat to attack Northern Nigeria for not supporting MEND’s campaign for “justice and equity” in the oil-producing region.
All the theories are being explored by the investigators, THISDAY learnt, even as it has now emerged that the Ukrainian embassy in Nigeria may be making moves to intervene in the matter.
It also emerged yesterday that seven Ukrainians, not four, were arrested on board the aircraft.
A Customs officer, who was said to have tried to clear the “cargo”, is also in detention, although other sources said it was a clearing agent named Sylvester, who allegedly also works with one of the airlines in the country, is the one in detention.
Security officers have been deployed in the airport, while the office of the airport commandant of has become a “no go” area to journalists.
The impounded aircraft with registration number MEM 4-060 (UR-CAK) is still parked at the airport.
All efforts to speak with the airport commandant, Group Captain U. Abagboyi, were in vain. However, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) Manager of the Airport, Mr. N. R. Odibukuma, confirmed to reporters the seizure of the aircraft.
Top military sources disclosed that the SSS was initially handling investigations but on the order of the Presidency, handed over to the DMI with a mandate to unravel the mystery. The Nigerian who gave permission to the aircraft to land is still with the SSS, explaining why he chose to act unilaterally without confirming with his superior officers.
The source disclosed that some of the weapons and ammunition on board include howitzers, rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers and mortars.
Trouble started for the crew after refuelling when officials of the Customs and Immigration Services reportedly observed some suspicious information supplied by the crew in the flight discharge form, and strongly demanded to know the content of the plane following the crew’s refusal to declare its content in the form accompanying the cargo.
Jun192009