SALE OF BOMBS TO N/DELTA MILITANTS: 5 security operatives, company official arrested

· Suspects diverted explosives, detonators, says NSA

 

The Federal author­ities have arrested five security opera­tives and a company official believed to be selling bombs and other explosive devices to the Niger Delta militants.

 a thorough investigation by the Federal Government revealed that the suspects and two companies operating in the region diverted 9,000 kil­ogrammes of high explosives and over 16,000 pieces of det­onators in the area.

Monguno said that the revelation came from seven suspects who were arrested in connection with the incident.

The NSA, who spoke in his office when he met with man­ufacturers of fertiliser in Ni­geria, said that the offending explosive distribution com­panies had been blacklisted by the Federal Government.

Although he did not name the companies, the NSA said that the detained suspects were five security operatives and storekeeper in one of the firms and his accomplice.

The NSA expressed an­ger at the unpatriotic acts and abuse of the goodwill of the government by the two sole manufacturers of fertiliser in Nigeria.

He said the government would not hesitate to with­draw their licences if they con­tinued to sabotage the supply of fertiliser for local consump­tion.

Monguno said that his of­fice conducted a discreet in­vestigation into the incessant bombings of pipelines in the Niger Delta and discovered that commercial explosives and accessories were used for the attacks.

He said: “A detailed audit of the records of explosives, magazines and quarries in that region was conducted, which revealed the diversion of about 9,000kg of high explosives and 16,420 pieces of detonators for illegal use.

“The actors, including the store man of a major ex­plosives distribution compa­ny in Nigeria, an accomplice and five security operatives have been arrested and hand­ed over to appropriate author­ities,” he said.

According to the NSA, the resolve of the government to regulate the indiscriminate manner with which fertiliser was being imported into the country was aimed at check­ing the production of Im­provised Explosives Devices (IEDs) used by terrorists.

He explained that the IEDs were developed mainly from certain grades of fertilisers with particular reference to some nitrate based types in­cluding Urea Nitrate (synthe­sised from Urea).

Monguno said: “The Of­fice of the National Securi­ty Adviser in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Devel­opment facilitated necessary importation of raw materials and also secured the distribu­tion networks. This move was aimed at solving the national security problem on one hand by easing control of the items and on the other hand boost­ing the economy by encourag­ing local production.”

A visibly angry Monguno threatened that the Federal Government would consider withdrawing the manufactur­ing licences of Notore Petro­chemical and Indorama Eleme Petrochemical, two compa­nies licensed as the sole man­ufacturers of the Urea blend of fertilisers in Nigeria, if they do not boost local consumption.

He said that despite the cu­mulative annual production of the two companies estimated at 2.05 million metric tonnes and Nigeria’s estimated con­sumption rate of 1.1 million metric tonnes, bringing it to about 53 percent, the compa­nies have been exporting most of their products.

The NSA said that reports of the activities of the compa­nies showed that about 71 per­cent of the 2.05 million met­ric tonnes cumulative annual production was being export­ed to the detriment of our na­tional economy. This has led to a “hike in the price of Urea-based fertilisers in Nigeria with obvious implications on food security in the country,” he lamented.

Monguno warned that de­spite the rule of law which is not akin to anarchy, “this of­fice will not hesitate to close and withdraw the operating licence of any company that exports products without first meeting local consumption. I must say at this point that the goodwill showed by the gov­ernment should not be taken for granted.

“The fact that we are in a difficult and complicated situ­ation in terms of our economy and security, does not mean that companies and individ­uals with vested interests will take the goodwill of this coun­try for granted” he added.