Abuja: Illegal weapons taskforce seeks govt. support in combating crime
Acting Director-General, National Taskforce for Combating Illegal Importation of Weapons, Musa Mohammed, has solicited government’s support in stopping the importation and sale of illegal weapons.
Mohammed, who made the appeal at a press conference in Abuja on Monday, said that the taskforce was aware of several criminal hideouts in the country.
He stated that the organisation was ready to work with other law enforcement agencies to intercept the criminals.
Mohammed added that the outfit needed the intervention of government on mobility for it to reach different parts of the country to assess the security situation.
”There are lots of criminal hideouts even here in the FCT.
‘’With mobility, we will reach all these sensitive areas where illegal arms and ammunition are being imported, and intercept them.
”My first mandate is to solve all our problems with other security agencies and call for the President to assist us.
”Presently, we still feed the other law enforcement agencies with intelligence on how to catch these criminals but they always hijack the credit.
‘’This time around, we have developed a robust structure.
”If the other security agencies cooperate with us, we are ready to show them all these criminal hideouts and to take the necessary action against them,” he said.
Mohammed noted that the taskforce previously had a good relationship with other security agencies but it was strained presently.
”Nevertheless, we are working on the way forward to settle all the contentious issues between all the agencies. Under my watch, we will come to a resolution.
“So, if the government fully backs us and our bill which is currently in the National Assembly, we will do better than any law enforcement agency in Nigeria.
He said the bill to establish National Taskforce on illegal Importation of arms, ammunition, light weapons and chemical weapons, is currently in its second reading.
Mohammed expressed optimism that President Buhari would sign the bill into law as he is interested in the security of the country.
‘’If our bill goes through, we will not be redundant to the government.
“We have so many ways of generating income, both for ourselves and the government as well,’’ he said.
