The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has arrested an importer and a female clearing agent over the alleged illegal importation of 399 Jojef pump-action rifles through the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this on Monday during the formal handover of the seized firearms to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW).
The latest seizure and arrests bring the total number of suspects arrested by the NCS in connection with illicit firearms to 11, while 21,399 firearms have so far been handed over to the NCCSALW.
In July 2026, the NCS handed over 55 Jojef Magnum Tomahawk shotguns, 844 assorted prohibited firearms and 112,500 cartridges to the NCCSALW.
The firearms were intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos and Onne Port in Rivers State on June 19 and 21, 2024, respectively.
Speaking during the handover ceremony at the Tin Can Island Port, Adeniyi said the container conveying the latest consignment arrived at the port on July 8 aboard the vessel MV Velika and was flagged for inspection through the Customs risk management system.
He said the firearms had been dismantled and concealed in knocked-down form in an apparent attempt to evade detection.
According to him, examination and reassembly of the consignment led to the recovery of 399 fully assembled Jojef pump-action rifles and 535 assorted firearm components.
“The components included 89 frames, 80 charging handles, 57 trigger groups and 25 locking lugs,” he said.
Adeniyi said one of the suspects was arrested on July 31 at a bonded terminal while allegedly attempting to procure the release of the container.
He added that both suspects had been remanded by the Federal High Court in Lagos, with their arraignment scheduled for August 25.
The Customs boss said the seizure demonstrated the effectiveness of the Service’s risk management system and highlighted the importance of technology in identifying high-risk consignments at the nation’s ports.
“That container was found because of a system, and that system exists because this administration chose to invest in it. Under the Trade Modernisation Project, we have replaced manual processes with B’Odogwu, which brings clearance, automated risk management, cargo tracking and non-intrusive inspection onto a single platform.
“The purpose of that investment was never revenue alone. We cannot open every container that enters this country, and no customs administration anywhere in the world can. What technology gives us is the ability to know which container to open. What you are looking at this morning is that capability doing precisely what it was built to do,” he said.
Adeniyi warned that the NCS would not allow Nigeria’s ports or borders to be used for the illegal importation of firearms or other items capable of threatening national security.
He also warned Customs personnel against facilitating the movement of illicit arms, stressing that officers found aiding such activities would not be protected by the Service.
Receiving the firearms on behalf of the NCCSALW, its Director-General, Kokumo Johnson, said illicit small arms and light weapons remained major catalysts for terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, insurgency and other violent crimes.
Johnson, a retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police, disclosed that more than 21,000 small arms and light weapons had been retrieved since the establishment of the Centre, while over 19,000 had been destroyed.
He said the newly recovered firearms would be immediately catalogued, profiled and documented to ensure proper accountability and prevent them from returning to criminal hands.
