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The Nigeria Customs Service, has raised alarm over elevated arms import, revealing that since 2018 it intercepted 20 vital shipments, comprising 10,498 items of assorted arms and 114,929 items of ammunition, with an estimated duty-paid worth of N9.58bn.
The service added that 60 per cent of the seizures occurred in 2023.
The Comptroller-Basic of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this whereas addressing journalists in Ikeja on Wednesday.
Adeniyi acknowledged that the current surge accounts for 34.67 per cent of the overall DPV, 20.58 per cent of the arms seized, and 99.62 per cent of the ammunition intercepted over the six years.
“Since 2018 the NCS has intercepted 20 vital shipments, comprising 10,498 items of assorted arms and 114,929 items of ammunition, with an estimated obligation paid worth of N9.58bn. Notably, 60 per cent of those seizures occurred inside the previous yr alone,” he mentioned.
He acknowledged that these statistics not solely spotlight the intensification of their efforts but additionally reveal the evolving techniques employed by smugglers trying to breach our borders.
Talking of wildlife trafficking, Adeniyi lamented that the alarming rise in wildlife trafficking, not solely threatens the nation’s biodiversity but additionally tarnishes Nigeria’s worldwide fame.
He added that the unlawful commerce in endangered species, particularly pangolin scales, has positioned Nigeria as a key transit level within the world wildlife trafficking community.
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Giving particulars of the wildlife trafficking, he revealed that in August, the service in collaboration with the Wildlife Justice Fee, carried out a joint enforcement operation ensuing within the seizure of 9,493kg of pangolin scales.
Based on Adeniyi, the operation carried out in two separate places, represents the biggest seizure of pangolin scales globally since January 2020.
Equally, the CGC emphasised that an operation carried out in Kano/Kaduna yielded 2,293 tons of pangolin scales and led to 2 arrests whereas the operation in Lagos operation within the seizure of seven.2 tons of pangolin scales and two further arrests.
He added {that a} whole of 4 individuals have been arrested in reference to these operations, “two in Kano and two in Lagos,”
“These seizures carry the overall quantity of pangolin scales intercepted by NCS and the Wildlife Justice Fee to almost 20 tons since 2021, representing the lack of over 30,000 pangolin species,” Adeniyi acknowledged.
He reiterated that the service stays dedicated to collaborating with home and worldwide companions to fight wildlife trafficking and produce perpetrators to justice.
Adeniyi additionally introduced that in a associated worldwide case, the service has made substantial progress in an investigation linked to a cargo from Onne Port, Port Harcourt, which was intercepted at Hai Phong Port in Vietnam.
He added that the cargo contained 1,580 kg of elephant tusks stressing that three people, together with each brokers and sellers related to this unlawful export, have been arrested.
Adeniyi introduced that the continuing efforts of the service to curb the importation of illicit and doubtlessly dangerous prescribed drugs have yielded vital outcomes.
