Arms Shipment: UN Team Arrives In Nigeria On Sunday
A UN team will arrive in Nigeria on Sunday for a weeklong fact-finding mission on the arms shipment from Iran intercepted last October in Lagos state.
A senior Nigeria official said in New York that an eight-man UN panel of experts on Iran will arrive in Nigeria on Sunday to commence work the following day, January seventeen''.
The Official said the experts will get a first-hand look at the arms shipment from Iran which Nigerian security authorities intercepted last October.
Some personnel of the Nigeria Mission to the UN have already left New York for Abuja .
They said that the fact-finding visit would see the experts meet with inter-governmental agencies involved in the matter.
The UN team is also scheduled to visit Apapa Port in Lagos , where the cache of arms was intercepted and have been kept ``safely'' since then.
The panel was appointed in November by the UN Secretary-General to monitor states' implementation of sanctions against Iran .
Nigeria reported Iran to the UN in November after its authorities intercepted the weapons hidden among building materials in thirteen containers on a ship docked in Lagos .
An Iranian man and three Nigerians have been accused of attempting to import the arms and send them to The Gambia, which cut ties with Iran in November.
The Iranian, Azim Aghajani, identified by court documents as a Tehran-based businessman and member of Iran 's Revolutionary Guards Corps, was granted bail last month by a high court in Abuja .
Iran has come under four UN Security Council sanctions, including an arms embargo, over its nuclear programmed.
NAN / Margaret/Yinka
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