661 Rifles: We Gave Police, DSS N1m To Clear Consignment – Suspect
O ne of the suspects arrested for illegally importing 661 pump action rifles into the country, Mahmud Hassan has said security agencies including the police and Department of State Services (DSS) were paid N1 million to bring the consignment in through the Apapa Port, Lagos. Hassan is being tried alongside Oscar Okafor, Donatus Achinulo, Matthew Okoye – who is at large – and Salihu Danjuma in connection with the case. But in a hearing on Monday in the trial-within-trial ordered by Justice Ayokunle Faji, the suspect in a video played by the prosecution related how the N1 million was dispensed. The video was said to have been recorded while the suspect was in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS). He said in the video, “I gave N1m to facilitate the moving of the container out of the port, but it is not because of the guns. “The examiners were given N200,000; C.I.O., N100,000; enforcement, N200,000; police, SSS, between N20,000, N25,000, and N30,