By BANNERNEWS Reporter, Calabar
The National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW), South-South Zonal Centre, has provided two electronic body scanners to boat operators in Calabar, Cross River State, to help detect illicit weapons along the waterways.
The scanners were presented on yesterday at the Centre’s zonal office in Calabar to the Chairman of Boat Operators, Safe Journey Beach, Marina, Calabar, Comrade Samuel Bassey Johnson.
The Zonal Director of the Centre, Alex Ebimiebo, said the equipment would be deployed at strategic points to strengthen screening and monitoring activities along the maritime corridors.
Ebimiebo said the scanners were provided following a request by the boat operators, stressing that the Centre needed their cooperation to effectively combat the smuggling and trafficking of small arms and light weapons.
“We need your collaboration and support to enable the Centre to carry out its mandate,” he said.
He urged the operators to properly use and safeguard the scanners, noting that they remained government property.
Ebimiebo said the equipment would support the boat operators’ collaboration with security agencies in monitoring the waterways and preventing the movement of illicit arms into Cross River State.
Receiving the scanners, Johnson thanked the NCCSALW for the donation and pledged the continued cooperation of the boat operators with the Centre and other security agencies.
He said the equipment would improve the operators’ ability to assist with screening and monitoring at the waterfront and help prevent the movement of illicit weapons through Calabar’s maritime routes.
