Customs Hands Over 189,000 Rounds of Ammunition Seized in Niger to Arms Control Centre

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has handed over 189,000 rounds of live ammunition seized in Niger State to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) for destruction and further action.

The ammunition, packaged in 7,560 cartons containing 25 rounds each, was intercepted by Customs operatives around the Wawa axis of Niger State, near the border, following intelligence on the movement of the consignment.

The Controller of the Niger/Kogi Area Command, Sani Mohammed Umar, disclosed this in Minna during the formal handover of the seized ammunition to officials of the NCCSALW.

Umar said the consignment had remained in Customs custody since its interception in 2018 because of court proceedings and other legal processes surrounding the seizure.

He said the individual suspected to be behind the consignment fled after Customs officers intercepted it and had remained at large, adding that efforts were continuing to track him down.

The Customs chief warned that the illegal movement of such a large quantity of ammunition posed a serious threat to national security, particularly at a time when the country was grappling with terrorism, kidnapping and other violent crimes.

He said the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, had directed personnel to maintain heightened vigilance and strengthen border operations to check the smuggling of arms and ammunition.

Umar also pledged continued collaboration between the Customs Service, NCCSALW and other security agencies to ensure that illicit arms and ammunition do not reach criminal networks.

Receiving the consignment, the Director of the NCCSALW North Central Zone, Abdul Adamu Eneche, commended the Customs Service for its cooperation and the successful transfer of the seized ammunition.

Eneche, who represented the Director-General of the Centre, DIG Johnson Babatunde Kokumo, said the ammunition would be subjected to the necessary procedures before its destruction.

He said destroying the seized items was important to prevent them from being diverted or finding their way back into society, particularly into the hands of criminal groups.

According to him, the growing circulation of illegal arms and ammunition has continued to fuel terrorism, kidnapping, insurgency, communal conflicts and other forms of criminality across the country.

Eneche stressed that effective cooperation among security and law enforcement agencies was essential to tackling arms trafficking, noting that no single agency could address the problem on its own.

He said the Centre had, since its establishment, facilitated the destruction of more than 19,000 arms in the presence of relevant stakeholders.

Beyond the destruction of recovered weapons, he said the NCCSALW had also been carrying out public sensitisation and training programmes involving security agencies, traditional rulers, religious leaders, communities and other stakeholders.

He added that security personnel were being trained to identify emerging techniques used by criminal groups to transport and conceal illicit arms and ammunition.

Eneche urged residents to promptly report suspicious movements and activities to security agencies, stressing that credible information from communities remained crucial to disrupting illegal arms trafficking.

He expressed confidence that improved intelligence sharing, stronger inter-agency cooperation, tighter border controls and sustained public awareness would help reduce the circulation of illegal weapons in the North Central and other parts of the country.