Weapons delivered to Ukraine 'beginning to filter' to Africa: Nigeria
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Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari urges heads of states from neighboring states participating in the Lake Chad Basin Commission to confront the issue of Western arms smuggling from Ukraine.
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Former General and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari (AP)
Weapons supplied to Ukraine from Western countries are "starting to flow" into the Lake Chad basin region, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari warned this week.
Addressing the heads of states from neighboring states participating in the Lake Chad Basin Commission on Tuesday in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, the president said, "Regrettably, the situation in the Sahel and the raging war in Ukraine serve as major sources of weapons and fighters that bolster the ranks of the terrorists in the region."
Buhari then urged his counterparts to increase security cooperation in order to confront the issue of arms smuggling.
The Nigerian president agreed to step up military coordination in their countries' war against Boko Haram and ISIS terrorists, who are now apparently receiving weapons from Ukraine, alongside the leaders of Benin, Chad, Niger, and the Central African Republic.
Last month, Finnish police said that some of the "huge quantities" of weapons being shipped to Ukraine had made their way to Finland, where "three of the world’s largest motorcycle gangs" now operate, including Bandidos MC, which "has a branch in every major city in Ukraine."
In August, an American news outlet unmasked that a shockingly large amount of weaponry heading for Ukraine was untraceable. "Like 30% of it reaches its final destination," said a tweet that was later deleted after a swarm of online trolls attacked it.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had previously said the arms supplied by the West to Ukraine were ending up on the black market and spreading across West Asia.
Similarly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had pointed out that Stingers and Javelin missiles, supplied by the West to Kiev, were already being sold at a discount on the black market and have surfaced in Albania and Kosovo, which Russia has warned for so long.
Ukraine has received billions and billions of dollars in donated arms from the United States and its allies such as the United Kingdom and other NATO states in the past few months.
