Guardian

THE Iranian charged with unlawful importation of firearms and explosives to Nigeria Azim Aghajani, Wednesday continued his testimony before a Federal High Court, Lagos, where he denied knowledge of the content of the container in which the items were imported.

Aghajani, alongside an alleged Nigerian accomplice, Ali Jega, are standing trial before Justice Okechukwu Okeke. At the resumed hearing of the case, Aghajani, who was led in evidence by his counsel, Mr. Chris Uche (SAN), told the court that prior to the engagement of his services by Behimen Trading Company in Iran for the shipment of a 13 by 20 feet container, he had never been to Lagos.

He said he was engaged to do a trans-shipment of the container from the Nigerian port to Gambia. He told the court that the first problem he encountered during the trans-shipment was in the bill of lading, in which the name of the consignee and destination of the consignment were vacant.

According to him, since he was disturbed by this discovery, he wrote to Behimen Trading Company in Iran but received no reply. Aghajani further told the court that all the while, he was never aware of the content of the container, but had only dealt with the bill of lading in which it was stated that the consignment consisted of building materials.

“From the content of the bill of lading, I concluded that there was no unlawful item in the container. I was not opportuned to see the content of the consignment until I was apprehended at the Naval Ordinance at Apapa, where the container was revealed to contain arms and explosives,” he testified.

“I sincerely never knew of the content of that consignment, neither did I make any representation that the consignment belonged to me.”

Before his apprehension, he said, he had employed the services of one Kingsley, to whom he had explained the content of the bill of lading. According to Aghajani, Kingsley said he had communicated with the Nigerian Customs Service, and was making preparations for the safe trans-shipment of the consignment.

After listening to his testimony, Justice Okeke further adjourned the case till today for continuation of hearing.