Uchenna Cecil izuora
The Nigeria Customs Service, Tincan Island Port Command, has recorded another significant seizure, this time uncovering 204 firearms and firearm components following credible intelligence and sustained efforts to prevent the importation and circulation of illegally imported firearms into Nigeria.
This comes barely weeks after the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, PhD, MFR, psc(+), paid a working visit to the Command on 18 August 2026, during which he briefed members of the press on the landmark interception of knocked-down firearm components that were subsequently assembled into 399 pump-action rifles and officially handed over to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons.
Based on credible information gathered, a 20-foot container, No. TEMU 184536/9, arrived from Turkey aboard vessel MV Algeciras Express on 16 August 2026, was flagged and subjected to a 100 percent physical examination on 18 August 2026. After thorough examination, the container was found to contain knocked-down firearm components concealed among declared used goods, including furniture, refrigerators, solar panels and detergent. Further discrepancies were also discovered in the consignment documents, particularly regarding the identity of the consignee, and these are part of an ongoing investigation into the shipment and those connected to it.
The Command immediately put together a team of experts from the Nigeria Customs Service Armament Unit and the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, under the Office of the National Security Adviser, to carry out the assembling of the component parts. A total of 204 MAS 49 ALTER MAGNUM pump-action rifles were uncovered, alongside various leftover components, including 39 trigger pins, 58 locking lugs, 53 charging handles, 55 pistol grip screws, 56 springs, 56 trigger groups, 38 forward grips (hand guards), 67 forward grip latches, 56 pistol grips, 54 barrels, and two U-plates.
Deputy Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of Enforcement, Investigation and Inspection, Timi Bomodi, said the seizure is a further indication that the Service is maintaining heightened surveillance and intelligence-led enforcement against the illicit movement of firearms through Nigeria’s ports and borders.
The items have been secured, documented and will be formally handed over to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons for appropriate statutory action. Bomodi said the operation underscores the importance of intelligence-sharing and collaboration between the Office of the National Security Adviser, the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies, adding that the whole-of-government approach to arms smuggling and other criminal activities at Nigeria’s ports and borders has proven effective, as attested to by this seizure.
Reiterating the CGC’s warning to smugglers, arms traffickers and their collaborators, Bomodi said illegal arms will not find their way to the wrong end of the value chain, and that the space for concealment is becoming increasingly limited. He said the Service’s risk management system is robust and effective, with no weak links in its architecture, warning that those who believe firearms can be disguised as household goods, concealed in containers or imported through false or inconsistent documentation should understand that intelligence-led enforcement, technological tools, profiling and inter-agency collaboration are making such schemes increasingly difficult to execute.
Bomodi said the Service will continue to collaborate with all relevant authorities to identify, intercept and investigate consignments that pose a threat to national security, adding that the Service will also pursue the networks behind such consignments rather than merely focus on the physical seizure of prohibited items. He said the objective is to expose the entire chain involved in the illicit movement of firearms, from source and shipment to the intended destination and beneficiaries, and encouraged members of the trading public, especially clearing agents who may have information that can lead to the arrest of would-be importers of these items, to come forward, describing their assistance as a patriotic duty.