AFP: Nigeria has reported the discovery of an illegal arms shipment from Iran to the UN Security Council, a foreign ministry spokesman said Wednesday, with the incident a possible violation of sanctions.
LAGOS (AFP) — Nigeria has reported the discovery of an illegal arms shipment from Iran to the UN Security Council, a foreign ministry spokesman said Wednesday, with the incident a possible violation of sanctions.
“A formal notification was forwarded to the chairman of the Security Council … on the 12th of November conveying information that arms originating from Iran were seized,” said spokesman Ozo Nwobu.
The notification also informed the council that “investigations into the circumstances into the arms consignment were ongoing,” he added.
Iran is under four sets of UN sanctions over its nuclear programme. The sanctions include a ban on arms sales.
Tehran said this week that the arms shipment discovered in Lagos, which included rockets and grenades, was being shipped to a West African country by a private company.
It said a “misunderstanding” over it had been cleared up with Nigerian authorities.
Nigerian security agents last month intercepted 13 containers discharged from the vessel CMA CGM Everest at the country’s busiest port of Apapa in the economic hub of Lagos.
Shipping firm CMA CGM said the containers had been loaded and sealed in Iran by an Iranian businessman who does not appear on an international list of prohibited traders.
CMA CGM, which is based in France, said the shipment was loaded in Bandar Abbas, a southern port city of Iran, and discharged in Lagos in July.
But some time last month the shipper sought to have the containers reloaded and sent to Gambia, a tiny West African country wedged inside Senegal, according to the firm.
