By Ajibola Adedoye
A renewed maritime crackdown by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has thwarted a major attempt to ferry thousands of litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) through the River Benue into Cameroon, signaling a decisive escalation in anti-smuggling operations across Adamawa’s waterways.
Acting on precise intelligence, operatives attached to Operation Whirlwind—led by National Coordinator, ACG Kolapo Oladeji—launched a discreet early-morning ambush on Thursday, 6 November 2025. The surveillance team had positioned itself near the notorious Ribadu Loading Bay, long identified as an active corridor for illicit fuel transport.
According to ACG Oladeji, officers moved in the moment smugglers began loading the products onto a vessel. “Our operatives issued clear commands for the suspects to stand down,” he said, noting that the difficult terrain required the team to immediately secure the cargo to prevent a successful escape across the international boundary.
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A follow-up sweep, supported by the North-Eastern Marine Command, uncovered an additional wooden boat already packed with fuel-laden drums and jerrycans. Both vessels were subsequently piloted to the Jimeta waterside in Yola, where the contraband was offloaded into trucks and transferred to a secured Customs location.
A meticulous 100 per cent examination later confirmed the scale of the bust: 485 drums of 220 litres each, along with 83 jerrycans of 25 litres, totaling 108,775 litres of PMS. Given the highly flammable nature of the product, ACG Oladeji recommended a swift public auction in line with NCS regulations.
He emphasized that the interception underscores the Service’s strengthened commitment to curbing fuel smuggling, safeguarding Nigeria’s economic interests, and enforcing strict compliance with energy movement guidelines in border communities. The National Coordinator added that the illegal diversion of PMS through northern and eastern waterways remains a persistent threat to national energy security, driven by profiteering across neighbouring borders.
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