The Nigeria Customs Service’s Tin Can Island Port Command intercepts an illegal arms shipment, seizing 204 pump-action rifles concealed among declared household goods. The rifles and related parts are found inside a 20-foot container imported from Turkey, following a physical examination after the shipment is flagged.
According to customs officials, the seizure is linked to credible intelligence and sustained surveillance. The container, TEMU 184536/9, arrives aboard the vessel MV Algeciras Express on August 16, 2026, and undergoes full inspection on August 18. Officers report that the firearm components are hidden among used items described as furniture, refrigerators, solar panels and detergent. The recovered materials are listed as 204 MAS 49 ALTER MAGNUM pump-action rifles, along with leftover parts such as trigger pins, locking lugs, charging handles, springs, trigger groups, grips and barrels.
Both outlets describe the interception as part of ongoing efforts to prevent prohibited weapons from entering the country. Vanguard and Nigerian Eye also note it follows a prior Tin Can Port seizure of knocked-down rifle components earlier in August, which was later assembled into hundreds of rifles and handed to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons.
