The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the federal agency responsible for border control and import and export duties in Nigeria, has confirmed the killing of one of its personnel, Assistant Superintendent of Customs Mustapha Akiyode, during an operation in Ogun State, in south west Nigeria.
Akiyode was shot dead in the early hours of Tuesday, 3 February 2026, when suspected smugglers reportedly ambushed officers along the Ilara to Ijoun route in Imeko-Afon Local Government Area, a border community corridor that has long been linked to illegal cross-border trade.
In a statement shared on the service’s official account on X on Friday, 6 February 2026, the Comptroller of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A, Gambo Aliyu, described the death as “a sobering reminder of the dangers faced by officers engaged in border enforcement.”
Okay News reports that Aliyu spoke during his first press briefing after taking charge of the unit, held at the FOU Zone A headquarters in Ikeja, a major district in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial centre.
Aliyu said the command has continued operations despite the loss, noting that it has strengthened its anti-smuggling drive with what he described as intelligence-led tactics designed to disrupt smuggling networks operating across the zone.
According to him, the refreshed strategy helped the unit stop 144 smuggling attempts and seize a large volume of prohibited and improperly imported items moving through different routes in the area.
He listed the seizures to include 6,954 bags of foreign parboiled rice, 77 bags of foreign sugar, 21 used vehicles, 3,362 jerrycans of vegetable oil, 20,700 litres of premium motor spirit (PMS), 915 bales of used clothing, 581 used refrigerator compressors classified as hazardous waste, and a 20-foot container filled with stone-coated aluminium roofing sheets.
Aliyu said the results showed a renewed determination to confront smuggling syndicates, adding that his leadership would focus on professional discipline while still operating within the law and respecting human dignity.
The customs comptroller also announced what he called a major breakthrough linked to drug trafficking. He said officers intercepted 3,029 parcels of a synthetic strain of cannabis indica weighing 1,431 kilograms, which he said disrupted narcotics supply routes within the zone.
He warned that drug trafficking has wider security implications for Nigeria, a West African country that has battled different forms of organised crime and violent insecurity. Aliyu said illegal drugs can worsen instability by enabling criminal activity and encouraging violence.
“I urge perpetrators of this illicit trade to be patriotic enough to change their ways and embrace legitimate trade or face the consequences of their actions, as our determination is resolute,” he said.
Aliyu added that eight suspects were arrested in connection with the seizures, which he put at a combined Duty Paid Value of ₦3.32 billion.
He said the cannabis was handed over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Nigeria’s lead agency for drug investigations and prosecutions, as part of ongoing cooperation among security institutions. The NDLEA, he added, commended customs officers for the interception and assured that the drugs would be handled and destroyed in line with the law.
The unit said it remains committed to safeguarding Nigeria’s borders, even as it mourns the officer who was killed during the operation in Ogun State.
