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From Uche Usim, Abuja
To combat smuggling, irregular migration and other trans-border crimes, Nigeria, Niger and Benin Republic have unveiled a tripartite security drill tagged Nigeria’s Joint Border Patrol Team (JBPT).
The new outfit is a transformation of Operation Swift Response (OSR), a land border, multi-agency operation, which was launched in August 2019 and coordinated by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
Spokesman of Customs, Joseph Attah, who made the disclosure in a statement said that JBPT was coming at a time Nigeria was gradually reopening the land borders to facilitate regional trade.
According to Attah, “With the reopening of the borders for commercial activities, items such as parboiled rice, frozen chicken, illicit drugs, among others remain prohibited.
Attah quoted the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd) as applauding the efforts of the OSR team for their unflinching commitment to the national assignment, and urged them not to rest on their oars.
“The NSA further stated that the joint patrols would be adequately administered and charged the operatives to display a high level of professionalism during the operation with their neighbouring counterparts.
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“This was because Nigeria has a widely acclaimed track record of security operations not just at the ECOWAS level, but the world at large”, he added.
Meanwhile, a year and four months into the operation, the smuggling of illicit drugs and proliferation of small arms and light weapons used to exacerbate violent extremism and terrorism in some parts of the country have been significantly curbed.
This is in addition to the quantum of seizures of prohibited items and numbers of arrested irregular migrants as the operation progresses.
As at January 5, 2021, 1,401 irregular migrants had been arrested while the total seizures were; 159,506.7-(50kg) bags of parboiled foreign rice; 10,447 bags of NPK fertilizer used for making explosives; 1,974 Vehicles; 895 motorcycles; 18,690 Jerricans of vegetable oil, among other seized items.
The total monetary value of the apprehended items is about ₦12,538,333,545.50.
