The Ethiopian Customs Commission said it has seized over 35 pistols from smugglers who tried to bring the weapons illegally into the capital, Addis Ababa.
The weapons were hidden in a car travelling from Wuchale area of Amhara region of Ethiopia to Addis Ababa on Wednesday evening. Out of the total 33 were Turkish Made pistols while the remaining are Russian made Makarov pistols.
In recent years the smuggling of illegal weapons has been growing in Ethiopia, according to official reports. Ethiopia’s Customs Commission report for the first nine months of the fiscal year started July 8, 2018 NewBusinessEthiopia.com received from the Commission shows that the country has seized 885 million birr ($31 million) worth items including illegal weapons, narcotic drugs and hard currencies of different countries from contrabandists.
Out of the total the value of illegal weapons captured was estimated to reach 25 million birr (around $877, 000), according to the report. The illegal weapons were captured from smugglers at Mekelle, Dire Dawa, Bahir Dar, Kaliti, Mille, Jimma, Jigjiga and Hawassa custom posts.
With the aim of efferently combating contraband trade and ease the business of legal traders, the Customs Commission is recently restructured under the Ministry of Revenue of Ethiopia.