AHEAD OF ELECTIONS: Nigeria Customs Seizes, Assembles 399 Illicit Rifles at Tin-Can Port

By Aminat Damilola, Assistant Editor

Today, Sunday, August 9, 2026, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) struck a major blow against illegal arms proliferation by completing the inspection and assembly of a massive weapons seizure at the Tin Can Island Port Command, uncovering 399 fully assembled Jojef firearms and numerous extra rifle parts..

This follows a Thursday announcement by Comptroller-General of Customs Adewale Adeniyi. He revealed that Customs intercepted a container of concealed, knocked-down parts preliminarily identified as Jojef pump-action rifles

Officers of the command recovered several additional rifle parts, including large batches of 89 frames, 80 charging handles, and 66 foregrip latches. They also found mid-range quantities of 57 trigger groups, 45 foregrips/handguards, 39 pistol-grip screws, 34 springs, and 25 locking lugs. Smaller amounts included 16 heat shields, 10 trigger pins, five barrels, four pistol grips, and three pistons.

Ahead of the upcoming general elections, the Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Dr Adewale Adeniyi had warned that criminal networks might smuggle illegal items through Nigeria’s borders, ports, and airports. He assured Nigerians that the Service would increase surveillance and enforcement to stop these activities.

“We are about entering 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 said.

Adeniyi reaffirmed the Service’s commitment to intelligence-led enforcement, stronger border surveillance and collaboration with sister security agencies including the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) under the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) to identify and dismantle trafficking networks while safeguarding national security and facilitating legitimate trade.

Following the complete inventory and assessment of the illicit shipment, the CGC reiterated that NCS is preparing to hand over the seized armaments to the NCCSALW, underscoring a unified inter-agency commitment to taking dangerous weapons entirely off the streets and ensuring that those behind the trafficking network are tracked down and brought to justice.