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, 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 arrest and recovery brings the total to 11 suspects so far arrested and 21,399 firearms that have been handed over to the NCCSALW.
Recalled that the NCS, in July 2026, handed over 55 pieces of Jojef Magnum Tomahawk Shotgun, 844 assorted prohibited firearms, and 112,500 cartridges to the NCCSALW.
The illicit arms were intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and Onne Port, Rivers State on 19th and 21st June 2024, respectively.
Addressing newsmen during a brief handover ceremony of the seized 399 rifles held at the Tin-Can Port, Adeniyi said the container conveying the weapons arrived at the port on July 8 aboard the vessel MV Velika and was flagged for inspection by 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 resulted in 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.
The Customs CG 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 said both suspects had been remanded by the Federal High Court in Lagos, with their arraignment scheduled for August 25.
Adeniyi said the seizure was made possible through the Service’s risk management system, stressing that the development demonstrated the importance of technology in identifying high-risk consignments at the 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.
The Customs chief warned that the Service would not allow Nigeria’s ports and borders to be used for the illegal importation of firearms or other items capable of threatening national security.
He also warned Customs personnel against aiding the movement of illicit arms, saying any officer found facilitating such activities would not receive protection from the Service.
Receiving the firearms, the NCCSALW Director-General, Kokumo Johnson, said illicit small arms and light weapons remained a major catalyst for terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, insurgency and other violent crimes.
Kokomo Johnson, a retired Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), 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.
According to him, the newly received weapons would be immediately catalogued, profiled and documented to ensure proper accountability and prevent them from returning to criminal hands.