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The Nigeria Customs Service has handed over 399 seized rifles and assorted firearm parts to the Office of the National Security Adviser as part of efforts to curb illegal arms proliferation in Nigeria.
The Comptroller General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this while speaking with journalists on Monday after completing the inventory and examination of the seized shipment.
The firearms were intercepted at the Tincan Island Port Command, where customs officials uncovered 399 fully assembled Jojef firearms alongside several additional rifle components.
The recovered parts included 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.
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 general election cycle.
He said the Customs Service would intensify surveillance and enforcement operations to prevent such activities.
“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.
The Customs boss also reaffirmed the service’s commitment to intelligence-led enforcement, stronger border surveillance and collaboration with other security agencies.
He specifically highlighted cooperation with the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons under the Office of the National Security Adviser to identify and dismantle arms-trafficking networks.
Following the completion of the inventory and assessment of the shipment, Adeniyi handed over the seized firearms to the Director-General of the NCCSALW under the Office of the NSA, Nuhu Ribadu.
The handover, according to the Customs Service, forms part of efforts by security agencies to remove dangerous weapons from circulation and track down those behind their trafficking.
Adeniyi added that the two suspects arrested during the preliminary investigation had also been handed over to the Office of the National Security Adviser for further action.
