…As CGC Promises Rewards for Officers Behind Tin Can Arms Seizure
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Monday handed over 399 fully assembled Jojef pump action rifles and 535 assorted firearm components seized at the Tin Can Island Port, Lagos, to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW).
The handover, which took place at the RORO Scanning Site of the Tin Can Island Port Command, followed the completion of the examination, inventory and documentation of the intercepted consignment.
The Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, said the consignment arrived at the port on July 8 aboard the vessel MV Vollica and was subjected to inspection after being flagged by the Service’s risk management system.
According to him, the discovery was not the result of a random search but a demonstration of the Customs’ enhanced risk profiling and intelligence driven cargo examination system.
Adeniyi said the firearms had been dismantled and concealed among other items in knocked down form, apparently to make detection more difficult.
He said the completed inventory established that the shipment contained 399 fully assembled pump action rifles and 535 assorted firearm components, including frames, charging handles, trigger groups and locking lugs.
The Customs boss said the quantity of firearms could have posed a serious threat to national security if the consignment had escaped detection and reached its intended destination.
He noted that Nigeria was already contending with terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other violent crimes, stressing that illicit firearms often provide the means for such criminal activities.
Adeniyi also expressed concern over the timing of the seizure, particularly as the country approaches another electioneering season, warning that hundreds of firearms in the wrong hands could undermine public safety, community peace and democratic processes.
He said the successful interception demonstrated the importance of investment in technology and intelligence under the federal government’s Trade Modernisation Project.
According to him, the project integrates automated risk management, cargo tracking, clearance processes and non intrusive inspection to enable Customs identify suspicious consignments without physically opening every container entering the country.
Adeniyi disclosed that two suspects, Robert Eze and Ejiogu Godson, had been arrested in connection with the consignment and were being prosecuted before the Federal High Court in Lagos.
He said one of the suspects was arrested on July 31 at a bonded terminal while allegedly attempting to facilitate the release of the container, adding that the suspects had been remanded and would be arraigned on August 25.
The Comptroller General said the seizure, arrest of suspects and transfer of the firearms to the NCCSALW formed part of a coordinated response involving law enforcement and national security institutions.
He warned that the Nigeria Customs Service would not allow Nigeria’s ports and borders to be used for the importation of arms or other items capable of threatening the safety of Nigerians.
Adeniyi further warned Customs personnel against colluding with smugglers, saying any officer found facilitating the movement of illicit goods would not enjoy protection from the Service.
He commended the officers and men of the Tin Can Island Port Command, particularly the Customs Area Controller, for their role in the interception, and promised that personnel responsible for major seizures would be appropriately recognised and rewarded.
The National Coordinator of the NCCSALW, Johnson Kokumo, said the Centre had so far received more than 21,000 small arms and light weapons from Customs and other sources since its establishment, while more than 19,000 had been destroyed.
Kokumo said the proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons remained a major driver of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, insurgency and other violent crimes, stressing that removing such weapons from criminal networks was critical to national security.
He assured that the weapons handed over to the Centre would be catalogued, profiled and documented, with serviceable assets required for authorised state security use properly accounted for, while obsolete, illegal and unserviceable weapons would be destroyed in line with applicable laws and international standards.
The Customs Service also handed over illicit cannabis infused products seized from two 40 foot containers to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), with the consignments comprising Delta 8 cannabis infused pre roll products, gummies and cookies valued at ₦373.8 million.
Receiving the seized substances, the NDLEA representative commended the Customs Service for its intelligence gathering and inter agency cooperation, noting that the latest seizure would support ongoing investigations and enforcement operations aimed at preventing prohibited substances from reaching Nigerian communities.