INVESTIGATION: SaharaReporters Alleges Security Officers Running ₦6bn-a-Week Smuggling Cartel on Western Borders
A SaharaReporters investigation has ignited serious concerns around Nigeria’s western borders, alleging that security operatives deployed to enforce federal anti-smuggling laws are instead at the centre of a multi-billion-naira criminal enterprise. According to the report, senior officers and field operatives of the Nigerian Army, Police, and Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) are implicated in an organised smuggling cartel said to rake in ₦4–₦6 billion every week across the Seme–Badagry and Idi Iroko corridors. The network allegedly provides safe passage for hundreds of trucks carrying foreign rice, used vehicles, textiles and other prohibited goods into Nigeria from Benin Republic.
Border operators quoted in the report claim that officers posted to the frontier have abandoned enforcement duties and now act as guarantors, escorts, and protection agents for smugglers. After negotiated financial settlements, trucks reportedly move freely through checkpoints under the supervision of uniformed personnel. Members of the Union of Pioneers Association, representing more than 3,000 long-time border traders, told SaharaReporters they have been pushed out by a powerful ring allegedly backed by senior military and customs officers. They say security personnel now monopolise the smuggling economy, leaving indigenous operators sidelined from routes they once controlled.
Sources cited in the investigation allege that a single coordinator, described as a “strongman,” now oversees key smuggling routes along Seme–Badagry. Military and police personnel are reportedly redeployed to escort contraband shipments into Lagos, with some soldiers said to have been seen supervising loading activities after deals with customs officials had been concluded. Attempts by displaced local operators to negotiate their re-entry into the trade—including a meeting facilitated by a prominent Yoruba monarch—have reportedly failed, with the operators accusing security agencies of stalling to protect an uninterrupted and highly profitable December smuggling season.
The investigation further reports that while access through Lagos routes has become tightly controlled by cartel-linked actors, at least seven border passages through Ogun State remain active, enabling daily movement of trucks with minimal checks. Border insiders estimate that each truck attracts fixed security “settlements,” feeding into the alleged multi-billion-naira weekly revenue attributed to the cartel.
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Frustrated operators say they are finalising a petition to the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, calling for a sweeping federal probe into what they describe as a vast criminal enterprise protected by individuals in uniform. They warn that the alleged network, if unchecked, poses a grave threat to national security, drains revenue from Nigeria’s already strained economy, undermines anti-smuggling reforms, and further erodes public trust in law enforcement institutions. So far, none of the security agencies named in the report have issued an official response to the allegations.
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