By Ikugbadi Oluwasegun
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has intensified surveillance and intelligence-led enforcement across the nation’s ports and borders following another interception of firearms and firearm components at the Tin-Can Island Port Command.
Adewale Adeniyi, Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), represented by Timi Bomodi, Deputy Comptroller-General in charge of Enforcement, Inspection and Investigation, disclosed this on Monday, during the handover of 204 pump-action rifles to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW).
According to him, the weapons were intercepted following the examination of a 20-foot container imported from Turkey. He said the firearms were concealed among declared used items, including furniture, refrigerators, solar panels, and detergents.
“Immediately we flagged the container, we put together a team from our Armament Unit and NCCSALW under the Office of the National Security Adviser to carry out a comprehensive examination, and a total of 204 MAS 49 ALTER MAGNUM pump-action rifles, alongside various numbers of leftover components, were uncovered,” he said.
Other intercepted components included 39 trigger pins, 58 locking lugs, 53 charging handles, 53 pistol-grip screws, 56 springs, and 56 trigger groups, among others.
In his remarks, the Customs Area Controller (CAC), Comptroller Joe Anani, said the repeated seizures demonstrates the Command’s resolve to prevent prohibited goods, particularly arms capable of threatening national peace and security, from entering the country. “Those who see our ports as an easy route for bringing prohibited and dangerous items into Nigeria should understand that they will not find a willing partner in the Nigeria Customs Service,” he said.
Receiving the seized items on behalf of the NCCSALW, its Southwest Zonal Coordinator, CP Abiodun Alamutu (Rtd), commended the NCS for preventing the weapons from reaching unauthorised persons, noting that illicit arms importation poses a threat to the nation’s security architecture.
The latest interception comes barely two weeks after the CGC on 18 August 2026, handed over 399 pump-action rifles and other intercepted firearms to the Director-General of the NCCSALW, further underscoring the Service’s commitment to curbing the illicit movement of arms and other prohibited items across Nigeria’s borders.
