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| Africa Horn |
| Nigeria Reports Iran Arms Seizure To U.N. |
| 2010-11-16 |
| Nigeria has reported the seizure of an illegal arms shipment from Iran intercepted by its secret service in Lagos last month to the U.N. Security Council, Foreign Minister Odein Ajumogobia said on Monday. Rockets and other explosives, hidden in containers of building materials shipped to Nigeria from Iran, appear to put Tehran in breach of U.N. sanctions imposed over its refusal to halt a sensitive nuclear program, diplomats have said. "Following preliminary investigations, our permanent mission in New York has reported the seizure and inspection of the arms shipment from Iran in compliance with our reporting obligations under (U.N.) resolution 1929," Ajumogobia told Reuters. Mystery surrounds the intended destination of the weapons, but investigations have focused on two Iranians believed to be senior members of the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's elite military force, diplomatic and security sources say. Nigeria's secret service was able to question one of the men, who had taken refuge in the Iranian embassy in Nigeria's capital Abuja, after Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki visited the West African country on Thursday. It has been unable to question a second Iranian in the embassy because he has diplomatic immunity. The two Iranians were believed to be members of al-Quds, an elite unit of the Revolutionary Guards which specializes in foreign operations on behalf of Iran, diplomatic sources said. The goods were originally meant for an address in Abuja, but shipping documents subsequently appeared to re-export them to Gambia, Nigerian authorities said last week. The weapons shown to journalists in Lagos when the seizure was made included 107mm rockets, used by armies to support infantry units, but also by groups including the Taliban in Afghanistan and Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip. |
| Posted by:Sherry |