The Nigeria Customs Service Comptroller-General, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, and National Spokesperson, Abdullahi Maiwada, confirmed on Sunday, 9 August 2026, in Lagos and Abuja respectively, that Customs had completed the examination of a shipment at Tin Can Island Port and uncovered 399 fully assembled Jojef firearms alongside assorted rifle components.
The discovery followed the interception of a container whose contents were initially presented as crates of knocked-down firearm components.
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Customs said detailed examination and subsequent coupling of the components established the presence of 399 fully assembled rifles.
The seizure gives fresh weight to concerns about the movement of firearms through Nigeria’s ports, particularly as security agencies prepare for a major election cycle.
Adeniyi said criminal networks could seek to exploit the country’s borders, ports and airports to move prohibited items into Nigeria.
“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,” the Comptroller-General said.
Beyond the 399 rifles, Customs recovered 89 frames, 16 heat shields, 10 trigger pins, three pistons, 25 locking lugs and 80 charging handles.
The inventory also included 39 pistol-grip screws, 34 springs, 57 trigger groups, 66 foregrip latches, 45 foregrips or handguards, four pistol grips and five barrels.
Customs has not, in the statement announcing the seizure, identified the importer or disclosed the origin of the shipment.
The agency said the firearms would be handed over to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, under the Office of the National Security Adviser, after the inventory and assessment are completed.
Maiwada said the latest operation reflected the service’s intelligence-led approach to enforcement, while Adeniyi pledged closer cooperation with sister security agencies to identify and dismantle networks involved in arms trafficking.
The 399-rifle seizure is particularly significant against the backdrop of earlier firearms interceptions at Tin Can Island Port.
In September 2017, Customs uncovered 1,100 Jojef Magnum pump-action rifles in a 20-foot container at the same port.
The consignment had been declared as wash-hand basins and water closets, but examination revealed 600 black Jojef Magnum pump-action rifles, 300 silver variants and 200 plastic single-barrel hunting rifles. Contemporary reports put the final figure at 1,100.
A second shipment linked to the same period was subsequently reported at Tin Can Island Port, with Customs intercepting hundreds of additional pump-action rifles after detailed profiling of the importer and associated containers.
Historical reporting described the seizure as another major interception in a series that had already placed the Lagos port under intense scrutiny.
The scale of the latest discovery also recalls the continuing challenge of firearms entering Nigeria through maritime routes.
In 2024, Customs reported a separate seizure at Onne Port involving hundreds of rifles and more than 112,000 rounds of live ammunition in containers originating from Turkey.
For the Nigeria Customs Service, the immediate task is now to establish how the latest shipment entered the port, who was behind it and where the weapons were intended to go.
Adeniyi said the service would intensify surveillance and enforcement at entry points, while stressing collaboration with the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons.
The seizure therefore goes beyond the number of firearms recovered. It is also a test of how effectively intelligence, port screening and inter-agency cooperation can keep weapons from reaching criminal networks at a particularly sensitive moment for Nigeria.
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Customs said investigations and assessment would continue, with the seized firearms to be transferred to the appropriate authority. No arrests or prosecutions were announced in the statement reviewed for this report.
Mariam Balogun is a contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, business, and public affairs.
