The Nigeria Customs Service has confirmed that a container it intercepted at Tin Can Island Port actually concealed 399 fully assembled Jojef firearms once agents completed reassembling and examining the knocked-down components found inside, a discovery officials say underscores growing concern over arms trafficking ahead of Nigeria’s next election cycle.
According to a statement from National Spokesperson Abdullahi Maiwada issued Sunday in Abuja, the shipment was initially flagged as crates containing disassembled rifle parts hidden within the container, preliminarily identified as components for Jojef pump-action rifles. Comptroller-General Bashir Adeniyi detailed the full scope of what investigators uncovered once the coupling and examination process was completed: alongside the assembled firearms, Customs recovered 89 frames, 16 heat shields, 10 trigger pins, three pistons, 25 locking lugs, and 80 charging handles, plus 39 pistol-grip screws, 34 springs, 57 trigger groups, 66 foregrip latches, 45 foregrips or handguards, four pistol grips, and five barrels.
For Adeniyi, the timing of the seizure carries particular weight given Nigeria’s approaching general elections, a period he says historically sees criminal networks attempt to exploit weak points along the country’s borders, ports, and airports to move prohibited items into the country. “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,” he said.
In response, Adeniyi confirmed the Service would step up surveillance and enforcement operations across entry points nationwide, reaffirming its commitment to intelligence-led enforcement and closer coordination with allied security agencies to dismantle arms-trafficking networks before they can take root. He specifically pointed to ongoing collaboration with the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, operating under the Office of the National Security Adviser, as central to that effort, confirming that the seized firearms would be formally handed over to the Centre once Customs completes its full inventory and assessment.
Adeniyi framed the seizure as part of a broader, coordinated push among security agencies to remove dangerous weapons from circulation and hold accountable those responsible for trafficking them into the country in the first place.
