Nigeria says diplomat may be linked to arms cache from Iran

ABUJA

Nigeria's foreign minister on Friday said a diplomat may be linked to an illegal arms shipment sent from Iran and discovered in the country last month.

Nigeria has so far secured clearance to question one Iranian national who has taken refuge in the embassy in Abuja since security forces intercepted 13 containers of arms at a port in Lagos, Foreign Minister Odein Ajumogobia said.

"We are talking about two individuals, one of them is a diplomat," Ajumogobia told a news conference, without providing further details on the diplomat.

The diplomat enjoys immunity under international laws so Nigeria cannot at this stage question him.

"If the Iranians are willing to waive immunity, then we will pursue that," he said a day after he held talks in Abuja with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.