Operatives of the ongoing joint border patrol have arrested 100 migrants and 117 suspected smugglers with various smuggled items, three weeks into the intensive operation.

Deputy Comptroller of Customs, Joseph Attah said several seizures were also made.

The seizures include 8,360 units of 50kg bags of parboiled foreign rice, 122 bags of fertilizer, 77 vehicles, 781 drums filled with petrol, and 16,371 empty 200 litres drums meant for smuggling petrol.

The others are 1,491 packs of assorted drugs, three outboard 40HPeEngines, 13 Cotonou boats, 185 drums of groundnut oil, six trucks, 114 motorcycles, among other items with the 117 suspects.

The joint border patrol by the security agencies is coordinated by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) which said it has continued to receive reports of large numbers of seizures and arrests from the four sectors of North-West, North-Central, South-West, and South -South geopolitical zones.

The Comptroller General of Customs, Colonel Hameed Ali, Comptroller General of Immigration, Mohammed Babandade and the Coordinator of the exercise, Brig Gen Emmanuel Aliyu Ndagi have commenced an on the spot assessment to sustain the rigorous patrol along the national borderlines.

The exercise, which is being led by the Nigerian Customs Service and the Nigerian Immigration Service, in collaboration with other security and intelligence agencies is intended to better secure our borders, boost national economy and strengthen border security.