Orji Kalu Says Parents Ended His International Arms Trade

Sen. Orji Kalu said in an interview that he previously traded heavy weapons internationally, selling to buyers able to pay, and stopped after his parents told him to quit. His account included a question about whether he sold weapons to former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi; Kalu responded that he sold to anyone with money to buy, without confirming a specific transaction in the exchange described in the reports.

Kalu said his arms business involved heavy weapons traded from one country to another, rather than small arms. He described making money as his motivation and said he was not concerned with how buyers used the weapons. The reports provide no independent confirmation or transaction records establishing specific sales, buyers or dates.

Asked whether the African National Congress, which fought apartheid in South Africa, had been a customer, Kalu said his business was not limited to the organization. He said he would sell to anyone willing and able to pay, and cited the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Namibia as potential destinations in his account.

Kalu declined to identify where he obtained the weapons, describing that information as private. The reports do not...