Man nabbed on gun errand with 87 bullets

[DT]

A security patrol on Wednesday afternoon arrested a middle-aged man near Abuja with 87 rounds of AK47 ammunition strapped to his thighs.

Two magazines each of 30 rounds of ammunition and 27 extra were strapped with masking tape inside his trousers, said military and mobile police officers who arrested him.

The man was picked up at a military checkpoint near Auta Balefi, a village along Abuja-Keffi expressway, when the Opel Vectra car he was traveling in was stopped for a routine security check.

Officers became suspicious as the man nervously asked them to quickly check the car boot and wave them through, one of them told Daily Trust.

A body search of the man instead revealed two 30-round magazine clips and 27 loose rounds of ammunition strapped with a masking tape to the inside of his trousers.

The officers said the suspect admitted he was transporting the ammunitions on behalf of an unnamed man in Niger Republic to be delivered to another man based in Abuja.

Officials suspect the man is involved in a weapon-running operation for possible robberies.

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Daily Trust