THE Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has handed over more than 399 seized rifles and a large assortment of firearm parts to the Office of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, following a major arms seizure at the Tincan Island Port Command.
News Point Nigeria reports that the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, said on Monday that the Service had concluded the coupling and detailed examination of the massive arms seizure, leading to the discovery of 399 fully assembled Jojef firearms alongside a critical assortment of supplementary rifle parts.
Speaking with journalists on the development, Adeniyi said the detailed inventory of the seized shipment also uncovered 89 frames, 16 heat shields, 10 trigger pins, three pistons, 25 locking lugs, 80 charging handles, 39 pistol-grip screws, 34 springs, 57 trigger groups, 66 foregrip latches, 45 foregrips or handguards, four pistol grips and five barrels.
The Customs boss described the seizure as a major blow to illegal arms proliferation and warned that criminal networks could seek to exploit Nigeria’s borders, seaports and airports to move prohibited items into the country as the nation approaches the next general election cycle.
Adeniyi assured Nigerians that the Service would intensify surveillance and enforcement operations to stop such activities, stressing that the period leading to elections often presents opportunities for criminal elements to attempt to smuggle dangerous items into the country.
“We are about entering a major election cycle, and we know that by this period, men of the underworld will want to use our borders, our ports, our airports to bring in items like this. We are going to redouble our efforts to ensure that we do not allow them to do so,” Adeniyi said.
He reaffirmed the Nigeria Customs Service’s commitment to intelligence-led enforcement, stronger border surveillance and closer collaboration with sister security agencies to identify and dismantle arms trafficking networks while protecting national security and facilitating legitimate trade.
According to him, the collaboration would include continued engagement with the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW), which operates under the Office of the National Security Adviser.
Following the completion of the inventory and comprehensive assessment of the illicit shipment, Adeniyi formally handed over the seized armaments to the Director-General of the NCCSALW under the Office of the NSA.
The handover, he said, underscored a unified inter-agency commitment to ensuring that dangerous weapons are taken entirely off the streets while those responsible for the trafficking network are identified, tracked down and brought to justice.
Adeniyi also disclosed that the two suspects arrested during the preliminary investigation into the arms seizure were being taken over by the Office of the National Security Adviser for further investigation and necessary action.
The development comes amid heightened concerns over the possible movement and proliferation of illegal arms ahead of the 2027 general elections, with the Customs Service pledging to redouble its enforcement efforts across Nigeria’s borders, ports and airports to prevent criminal elements from exploiting the election period to smuggle prohibited weapons into the country.
