Resumen
This study utilized biometric fingerprint recognition and Global system for Mobile Communication (GSM) Short Message Service (SMS) to identify military armoury users and alert possible intrusion to take arms without authorization respectively. This is aimed at holding accountable those assigned arms from the armoury to avert the diversion of arms for criminal tendencies. The existing armoury security system was critically evaluated through physical examination of the armoury in the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) Base Markudi and oral interview to elicit facts from custodians of the armoury. It was observed that armoury control records were kept manually and this is prone to non-accountability and arms smuggling to commit crimes in the society. The new system was designed using object oriented programming and implemented using Personal Homepage Pre-processor (PHP) and java, with MySQL as the database system. A fingerprint sensor was integrated with the system for biometric image capturing of users and the entire system is linked to a mobile telecommunication system for SMS alerts of possible intrusions. The new system can authenticate pre-registered users via fingerprint recognition before granting them access to the armoury strong room, with an SMS to the administrator. An authentication failure triggers an SMS of intrusion notice to the armoury administrator and also triggers surveillance security guards to arrest the intruder. The database keeps logs of all assigned arms with the users and intrusion logs for cross-referencing. The system is thus found useful in identifying armoury users and in detecting arms smuggling.