KEY POINTS

• From 2019 till date, joint Border Patrol intercepts rifles, cartridges, and other contraband worth N36 billion.
• Boost 1,500 illegal immigrants arrested national security and revenue.
• Through auction sales, the team’s efforts earn N1.1bn for the Federation Account.

Between January 2019 and February 2021, the Joint Border Patrol Team Sector 2 has prevented the importation of the mind boggling sum of N36 billion in contraband, which included six pump action rifles and 1,125 live cartridges.

Speaking in Ikeja, Lagos State, Mohammed Shuaibu, the team’s coordinator and Deputy Controller of Customs, said the contraband was hidden inside a sack of cassava flakes that was intercepted on Okerete-Ododo Bush in Oyo State. During a recent operation, the rifles were found hidden in a Toyota Saloon car.

Key seizures and arrests

Shuaibu further outlined some of the significant seizures made by the team over the years:
130,954 bags of foreign rice. They also seized 7,200kg of pangolin scales. Premium Motor Spirit – 5,575,020 liters. 11,322 cartons of foreign frozen products, and we had 4,124 bales of used clothes. 15 pump-action rifles. There were also 1,507 illegal immigrants arrested.

These seized goods added a value of N36.7billion duty paid worth of these seized goods.

Providing boost to national revenue and security

Not only has the illegal flow of goods been curtailed but efforts of the Joint Border Patrol have contributed immensely to national revenue. And barely, over N1.1 billion has been generated from auction sales of seized petroleum products for the Federation Account.

These operations have also strengthened national security by breaking networks that support supply chains that constitute a significant security threat as the problem of illegal weapons in the country grows.

Civilian‐held small arms (excluding smuggled conventional weapons) in Nigeria estimated at 6.15 million, contributes 70 percent of the 500 million illegal weapons in circulation in West Africa.