The Nigeria Customs Service has handed over several stolen luxury vehicles traced to Canada after intercepting them at the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos, in what officials described as a major breakthrough against transnational vehicle theft syndicates.
The recovered vehicles, including exotic brands such as Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce, and Mercedes-Benz, were formally handed over to Canadian authorities during a ceremony held at the Tin Can Island Port on Monday, May 4, 2026.
The Deputy High Commissioner of Canada to Nigeria, Nasser Salihou, received the vehicles from the Customs Area Controller of the Tin Can Island Command, Comptroller Frank Onyeka.
A statement issued on Sunday by the National Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Customs Service, Abdullahi Maiwada, said the operation followed months of intelligence sharing between Nigerian authorities and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Internal Customs documents showed that the intercepted vehicles included a 2019 Lexus RX350, a 2019 Mercedes-Benz G550, a 2023 Land Rover Range Rover, a 2019 Lamborghini Huracán, a 2021 Rolls-Royce Dawn Convertible, a 2018 Lamborghini Aventador, and a 2026 Toyota Tundra, all confirmed to have been stolen abroad before being smuggled into Nigeria.
Speaking during the handover ceremony, Onyeka disclosed that one of the vehicles, a Toyota Tacoma, was secretly concealed inside a container carrying other automobiles before Customs officers intercepted it.
“What looked like a routine cargo movement quickly became an international criminal investigation. Once intelligence reached us, we placed the consignment under enforcement watch and secured the vehicle pending confirmation from Canadian authorities,” Onyeka said.
He explained that officers swiftly isolated the affected container after receiving shipping documentation and intelligence reports from Canada, and deliberately delayed the release of the vehicles until Canadian officials physically arrived in Nigeria to verify and recover them.
The Customs boss described the operation as a major signal of Nigeria’s growing capacity to combat international organised crime and stolen vehicle trafficking, noting that criminal syndicates are increasingly using global shipping networks to move stolen vehicles across continents.
