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In attempt to smuggle 1,264 live shot gun cartridges into Nigeria was on Tuesday foiled near Lagos,the country's commercial capital, as the vendor abandoned the vehicle when the cartridges started exploding, police and witnesses said.
In attempt to smuggle 1,264 live shot gun cartridges into Nigeria was on Tuesday foiled near Lagos,the country's commercial capital, as the vendor abandoned the vehicle when the cartridges started exploding, police and witnesses said.
The incident occurred at Badagry on the Badagry (Nigeria)-Seme (Benin Republic) highway, some 50 km southwest of Lagos.
Witnesses said that the cartridges loaded in dozens of black polythene bags were hidden inside a green Volkswagen Golf car and was heading for Lagos from neighboring Benin Republic at about 2:30 p.m. (1330 GMT).
According to witnesses, the cartridges hidden in the vehicle started exploding when it reached Badagry, possibly because of theheat, forcing the driver of the vehicle to stop and abandon it.
A police source confirmed the incident and said that investigation was going on.
Cartridge smuggling is very common in the Badagry area and is also a source of gun smuggled in to fuel numerous robberies in Nigeria.
Nigeria and the west African region also account for numerous small arms, apparently a result of many small conflicts and communal wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire and hostage takings as well as vandalism in oil rich Nigeria's Niger Delta region.