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•Urges FG to track illegal weapons from source to destination
The Sea Empowerment and Research Center (SEREC) has urged the federal government to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) to detect arms smuggling through Nigerian ports, identify those behind the trade and trace illegal weapons to their source.
It warned that stopping shipments alone may not dismantle the networks supplying guns to criminals.
It added that the adoption of an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled arms-trade risk engine that integrates Customs records with shipping, corporate, financial, and international trade intelligence remains a potent measure to fight crime, especially with general elections on the horizon.
The advice comes after the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Tin Can Island Port Command, recently intercepted about 603 firearms illegally imported through the port.
The first set that was intercepted was 399 fully assembled Jojef firearms alongside a critical assortment of supplementary rifle parts. This was intercepted in a container containing concealed crates of knocked-down components. The additional rifle parts recovered include 89 frames, 16 heat shields, 10 trigger pins, three pistons, 25 locking lugs, 80 charging handles, 39 pistol-grip screws, 34 springs, 57 trigger groups, 66 foregrip latches, 45 foregrips/handguards, four pistol grips and five barrels.
The second interception was 204 pump-action rifles concealed among declared household goods in a 20-foot container imported from Turkey through the Lagos port.
The seizures were subsequently subjected to a 100 per cent physical examination during which firearm components were discovered concealed among declared household and used goods, including furniture, refrigerators, solar panels and detergent.
All these were made possible through credible intelligence and sustained surveillance aimed at preventing the importation and circulation of illicit firearms in the country.
However, maritime industry experts said curbing arms trafficking through Nigerian ports requires the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligence-led enforcement to uncover the networks behind the illegal trade.
They explained that the technology could go beyond flagging suspicious cargo by connecting intelligence on importers, shipping companies and transactions to identify trafficking patterns and expose the financiers and other people facilitating the trade. According to them, the approach would strengthen intelligence-sharing, improve cargo screening and enable security agencies to dismantle arms trafficking networks at their source, rather than merely intercepting illegal weapons when they reach their destinations.
Head of the Sea Empowerment and Research Center (SEREC), Eugene Nweke, called on the federal government to move beyond the interception of illicit arms shipments at Nigerian ports and develop an origin-to-destination intelligence strategy capable of dismantling the international supply chains behind the weapons.
According to SEREC, every major arms seizure should trigger a comprehensive investigation covering the manufacturer, exporter, purchaser, financier, freight forwarder, consolidator, shipping line, vessel, bill of lading, customs documentation, Nigerian clearing process, terminal and intended beneficiary.
He recommended the use of artificial intelligence and integrated data analytics to identify suspicious shippers, consignees, commodity descriptions, weights, container numbers, routes, transshipment points and links to previous seizures.
He added that the development of an AI-enabled arms-trade risk engine is needed, capable of connecting customs records with shipping, corporate, financial and international trade intelligence.
He explained that the goal should be to create an intelligence network rather than merely assign risk scores to individual consignments.
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He said the critical questions should no longer be limited to the number of firearms intercepted, but should include who supplied the weapons, who financed their purchase, who packaged and shipped them, who handled the documentation, who received them in Nigeria, and who ultimately intended to use them.
According to him, every major arms seizure should trigger a comprehensive investigation covering the manufacturer, exporter, purchaser, financier, freight forwarder, consolidator, shipping line, vessel, bill of lading, customs documentation, Nigerian clearing process, terminal and intended beneficiary.
He also called for greater use of shipping and maritime logistics data in combating arms trafficking.
He said shipping lines should not automatically be treated as suspects, but should be regarded as important intelligence partners whose cargo and routing information could help authorities identify recurring trafficking patterns.
He proposed the establishment of a structured Turkey-Nigeria Arms Trafficking Prevention and Trade Security Mechanism, involving relevant Nigerian and Turkish customs, security, law-enforcement, maritime and financial-intelligence authorities.
“The proposed mechanism, it said, should facilitate the exchange of intelligence on suspicious exporters, manufacturers, consignors, shipment patterns, fraudulent documentation, container numbers, vessels, intermediaries and recurring trade routes,” he said.
Speaking with Daily Sun, Gbenga Leke Oyewole, a maritime security expert and former Senior Special Assistant on Maritime Services to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, said that in terms of the increased importation of arms, it is simply because of politics, saying it is all because of politics.
“If you look at it, some people do not want some people to win an election or create a state of panic in the country or engage in more kidnappings and ransom takings. It is all politics. There is going to be an election next year, so increased importation is also a direct consequence of increased need to harass and create panic in the system.
But as for stopping it, he said that the AI will function to the extent of scanning the consignments that come to the country and also tracing and tracking trade routes to Nigeria, adding that AI will do that, and it will be very helpful.
“You also would want to agree with me that most of these imports will not come whole in most cases. They will dismember it in a way that it will look like a spare part. AI can simply look at it and put it together and say this is a consignment of interest. To that extent, AI is very good,” he said.
He added that Nigeria also ought to look at the manufacturers of these guns and create a robust partnership with them so that every order is known in advance and the land borders are also well-policed to ensure that what they are doing in the port can also be carried out across the land borders.
“The ones that get to the port are as a result of extreme effrontery or promises already given by some of their cohorts that will say, look, don’t worry, we’ll ensure it clears and all that. It doesn’t matter what name they bring it.
“I would also want the security men, when they detect any other one, to keep calm, allow the person to clear it, continue to track it on to wherever they are taking it to, and let the real people, not agents clearing in the port now, not those people whose names are not on the waybill.
“They should get to the people that actually did the importation, track the bank accounts and arrest them; it does not matter how big the name is. By the time you bring down two, three, four people that are known in society, they will stop it. It’s a source of worry.
“Who is planning what? Why are they bringing in the arms? And for what? Do they use arms to vote? But I can tell you it’s simply because of the election, or some people are just not happy with the successes the security people, the security men, are recording against the insurgents and those that foment trouble all across the country,” he explained.
However, he commended the security agencies, the DSS in particular, for their recent successes across the country, not only in the ports but also across the Boko Haram enclaves, adding that they have done very well, especially in kidnappings, the release of victims, and all that; they have done so well.
