By Ayomide Otitoju
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has handed over 399 seized rifles and other firearm components to the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, as part of efforts to curb illegal arms proliferation in Nigeria.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this on Monday, saying the service had completed the coupling and detailed examination of the seized shipment at the Tincan Island Port Command.
According to Adeniyi, the seizure comprised 399 fully assembled Jojef firearms and several additional rifle components, including 89 frames, 16 heat shields, 10 trigger pins, three pistons, 25 locking lugs and 80 charging handles.
Other items recovered included 39 pistol-grip screws, 34 springs, 57 trigger groups, 66 foregrip latches, 45 foregrips or handguards, four pistol grips and five barrels.
Adeniyi warned that criminal networks could attempt to exploit Nigeria’s borders, ports and airports to smuggle prohibited items into the country as the nation approaches another election cycle.
“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,” he said.
He assured Nigerians that the Customs Service would intensify surveillance and enforcement operations to prevent the movement of illegal arms and other prohibited items.
Adeniyi also reaffirmed the NCS’s commitment to intelligence-led enforcement, stronger border surveillance and collaboration with other security agencies.
He said the service would continue working with the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW), under the Office of the NSA, to identify and dismantle arms-trafficking networks.
Following the completion of the inventory and assessment of the seized shipment, Adeniyi handed over the firearms to the Director-General of the NCCSALW, representing the Office of the NSA.
The development, he said, demonstrated the commitment of security agencies to removing dangerous weapons from circulation and bringing those responsible for their trafficking to justice.
Adeniyi added that the two suspects arrested during the preliminary investigation had also been handed over to the Office of the NSA for further action.
