The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has uncovered 399 fully assembled Jojef firearms alongside an assortment of supplementary rifle parts following the detailed examination of a massive arms haul seized at the Tin Can Island Port Command.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, had on Thursday, 6 August, disclosed that Customs had intercepted a container containing concealed crates of knocked-down components preliminarily identified as Jojef pump-action rifles.
Speaking further on the development, National Public Relations Officer of Customs, Abdullahi Aliyu, in a statement on Sunday, said 399 rifles were uncovered after officers finalised the coupling and examination of the seized items.
According to the statement, the additional rifle parts recovered include 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/handguards, four pistol grips and five barrels.
Aliyu said the CGC had warned that criminal networks could seek to exploit Nigeria’s borders, ports and airports ahead of the next general elections to move prohibited items into the country. He assured Nigerians that the Service would intensify surveillance and enforcement operations to prevent such activities.
‘We are about to enter 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 was quoted as saying.
Following the complete inventory and assessment of the illicit shipment, Adeniyi said Customs is preparing to hand over the seized armaments to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW).