Lagos: Nigeria Customs discloses seizure of 399 pump-action rifles at Tin Can Island Port

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Nigeria Customs Service Comptroller-General Bashir Adewale Adeniyi disclosed on October 20, during the 3rd Distinguished Personality Lecture of the TETFund Centre of Excellence in Security Management at the University of Ibadan (theme: "Why Customs Matters: Revenue, Security and Nationhood in a Borderless World"), that the Service intercepted 399 pump-action rifles and hundreds of firearm components concealed in a shipping container discharged from the vessel MV Velika at Tin Can Island Port, Lagos, in July 2026.

Adeniyi said the interception resulted from the Service's risk-management system flagging the suspicious consignment, demonstrating the value of intelligence-led enforcement. The recovered weapons have been handed over to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, while suspects are facing proceedings before the Federal High Court, so further details were withheld.

He recalled an earlier case at Onne Port in June 2024: 844 rifles and 112,500 rounds of ammunition concealed in a container shipped from Türkiye among dolls and furniture, plus 1,599 firearms seized between 2018 and 2024 handed over in February 2025. He declared at the lecture: "The world is connected, but it is not borderless" — globalization has made smart, efficient borders more important.

Adeniyi also disclosed revenue performance: about ₦3.2 trillion in 2023, ₦6.105 trillion in 2024 and ₦7.28 trillion in 2025, surpassing the ₦6.58 trillion annual target.