Members of Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN) in Kebbi, on Sunday, intercepted truck loaded with bags of paddy rice, concealing 73 guns and ammunitions in Zamare community of Yauri Local Government Area in the state.

The Commander of the group in Zamare community, Alhaji Zakari Muhammad Zamare, told newsmen in Yauri on Monday that the group intercepted the vehicle after it was transported by ferryboat from the River Niger in Zamare to upland in the area.

He said that,” the members of the community in the area participate and give more emphasis to community policing, hence we are doing it voluntarily to protect our selves and community.

“As we were on our routine duty, we saw a vehicle laden with bags of locally produced rice and we suspected the contents in them which resulted in vigorous investigation of the bags.

“We used our local equipment, penetrated the bags deep down and we discovered a suspected iron, and that was what led to using knife in tearing the bags.

“In the first bag, we discovered 14 local guns, on seeing the discovery, people in the area trooped in and we did not want a situation where the locals would take law into their hands, hence we took the suspected driver and his assistant to the nearest Police station for onward transferring them to Customs office and necessary investigation.”

He added that the suspects were together with the owners of the rice, saying that they disappeared in the crowd as soon as they had observed the interception of the vehicle.

“All alone, they were tailing at their back as soon as they observed the vehicle got clearance from one blockage to another; they tailed a bit but when we caught the suspects, they just disappeared,” Zamare said.

The commander revealed that the bags contained 73 local riffles and spare 443 ammunitions, explaining that all the riffles were loaded with ammunitions.

Also speaking, the state Commandant of VGN, Alhaji Sanusi Ibrahim Gezah, said the group took the suspects to the customs officers and police that were around.

“Both the two suspects and the weapons have been handed over to the customs, and others are now at large,” he said.

The commandant commended the members for their voluntary untiring sacrifice and policing their areas in an effort to complement the effort of security agencies in strengthening the security in the state.

Confirming the incident, the Public Relations Officer of Customs ,North- West, zone B, Federal Operation Unit, ASC, Magaji Mailafiya, assured that the unit would brief the newsmen as soon the intercepted items had arrived in the unit.