Nigeria Special Wildlife Office

Focused Conservation’s role in helping initiate, mentor, and fund specialized wildlife crime units across Africa has been well documented and the results continue to speak for themselves. These units are not only disrupting criminal networks and reducing the trafficking of protected wildlife, they are also elevating public awareness and strengthening inter-agency cooperation in ways that […]

LAGOS, NIGERIA — November 2025 A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, presided over by Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa, has convicted and sentenced two men, Lamin Magaji Muhammad and Ibrahim Haruna Muhammad, for conspiracy, unlawful possession, and attempted sale of a gorilla, the same great ape known as Bili, who was rescued in 2023 through a

Focused Conservation, working alongside the Nigeria Customs Service Special Wildlife Office (NSWO), recently played a key role in disrupting a major wildlife trafficking group in Abuja, Nigeria. Intelligence developed by the NSWO and Focused Conservation revealed that a group of traffickers was attempting to sell four large elephant ivory tusks. During deconfliction, it was determined

October 16, 2025 – Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria With support from Focused Conservation, officers from the Nigeria Customs Service Special Wildlife Office (NSWO) successfully executed a targeted enforcement action known as Operation Pink in Maiduguri, Borno State. The operation targeted an individual suspected of illegally selling two spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta), a species protected under

July 31, 2025 – Lagos, Nigeria In a significant victory for wildlife protection in West Africa, Focused Conservation and the Nigeria Customs Service Special Wildlife Office (NSWO) successfully intercepted a shipment of protected birds at Lagos International Airport. The birds—originating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and destined for Kuwait—were seized just before

July 2025 | Nigeria In a bold and coordinated effort, Nigeria Customs Service’s Special Wildlife Office (SWO)—mentored and supported by Focused Conservation—has successfully disrupted a major organized criminal network trafficking in pangolin scales. The covert investigation, dubbed Operation Orange, culminated on July 16, 2025, with the arrest of a key suspect and the seizure of

Yola, Nigeria — June 27, 2025 In a major victory for wildlife and border enforcement, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Special Wildlife Office (SWO)—a specialized unit initiated and mentored by Focused Conservation—intercepted 111 live and 9 dead African grey parrots at the Gurin border crossing with Cameroon. The parrots, one of Africa’s most trafficked bird

June 10, 2025 | Lagos, Nigeria — A sophisticated, intelligence-led investigation by the Nigeria Customs Service Special Wildlife Office (SWO), supported by Focused Conservation and Nigeria Customs Police, has disrupted a transnational wildlife trafficking syndicate operating between Cameroon and Nigeria. The targeted group was actively involved for years in the illegal trade of live pangolins—one

June 3, 2025 | Lagos, Nigeria — A joint intelligence-led investigation targeting the illegal trade of protected parrots has resulted in a significant enforcement success just a day after World Parrot Day. On June 1, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Special Wildlife Office, supported by Focused Conservation and the NCS Intelligence Unit, launched Operation Metsonia

A major wildlife trafficking ring operating in Nigeria was disrupted on May 24, 2025 in a joint law enforcement operation code-named Operation Teak. The operation, led by the Nigeria Customs Service Special Wildlife Office (NSWO) with support from Focused Conservation and the Nigeria Customs Service Police, resulted in the arrest of a prominent illegal pet