A Nigerian Army personnel, Sanni Mohammed has been arrested with two boxes containing about 2,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition.
The soldier, a Lance Corporal was nabbed at the Borno Express park in Maiduguri on Monday by officials of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW as he was about to board a bus to Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.
It was gathered that the NURTW officials later handed the suspect to the police.
According to reports, the soldier attached to 198 Special Forces Battalion had just been relieved from duties at Damasak town in Borno State after recently obtaining a sick report.
When interrogated by the police, the suspect claimed that he sourced the ammunition from a broken-down vehicle in his unit.
Other items found in his possession were a three-day excuse duty and two reports of hospital test.
The Nigerian Army has since told the police that the soldier was not issued a pass or given medical leave to travel.
A military insider said the army is waiting for the police to hand over the soldier to it for a detailed investigation on the matter.
Spokesperson for the Borno State Police Command, Edet Okon, declined comment on the issue, saying he would speak to reporters based in Borno.
Also the Force Spokesperson, Frank Mba neither responded to telephone calls nor replied to text messages.
The soldier’s arrest came about a month after the Zamfara State Government said a Nigerian soldier and his girlfriend were caught supplying ammunition and military uniforms to armed bandits in the state.
Bashir Maru, the Deputy Chief of staff to Governor Bello Matawalle, said at a press conference on March 5 that the soldier was arrested by the military through community-driven intelligence.
He however did not provide more details of the alleged incident, saying the state government is waiting for the military authorities to do so.
A former Head of State, Abdusalami Abubakar, said last Wednesday that there are over six million illegal weapons in circulation around the country.
