The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has shut down a suspected firearms workshop in Kaduna State and arrested its owner. Operatives raided Sabon Garin Kangin on Monday, November 9, 2026, and detained a 45-year-old man, Sagiru Musa. Moreover, the agency released the details in its weekly operations update on Sunday, November 15.
Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, shared the news on his X handle. According to the update, officers “busted a factory used for the local fabrication of firearms.” Furthermore, the raid produced a sizeable cache of weapons and tools.
Operatives recovered seventeen locally made Dane guns, two pistols, and twenty-five Dane gun pipes. In addition, they seized other materials the suspect used to build firearms. Therefore, the haul suggests the site did more than store weapons. It actively produced them, and that detail makes the arrest especially significant for security agencies in the state.
Dane guns are long-barrelled weapons that local blacksmiths make across Nigeria. Pistols, however, signal a more dangerous trade, because people can conceal them far more easily. Consequently, investigators will likely want to know who bought the weapons and where they ended up. The statement does not answer those questions, and the NDLEA has not said whether Musa will face charges.
The Kaduna bust is far from an isolated case. In September 2023, troops of Operation Safe Haven uncovered a gun factory in Kafanchan, Jema’a Local Government Area. They recovered 22 weapons there, including seven pistols, nine revolvers, and two locally fabricated AK-47 rifles. Meanwhile, the NDLEA intercepted 1,989 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition hidden in bags of garri along the Abuja-Kaduna highway in May 2026. Together, these cases show how often illegal arms move through the state.
Experts have long warned about homegrown weapon makers. Shehu told TRT Afrika that illegal local manufacturers produce about 40 percent of Nigeria’s illicit arms, as ADF Magazine reported in 2024. He also said money or ethno-religious sentiment drives these producers. Accordingly, shutting down a single workshop can disrupt a supply chain, even if it cannot end the trade alone.
The weekly update covered far more than guns. Operatives arrested Samson Chibuike Andebe, 30, at Grace Land in Sabon Gari on Wednesday, November 11, and seized 3,840 tablets of tramadol 225mg, weighing 2.5 kilograms, from him. Then, on Saturday, November 14, they raided a hideout in the Gonin-Gora area of Kaduna and recovered 499.3 kilograms of skunk. They arrested two suspects there, Celestine Chime, 34, and Chibueze Christ, 36. Likewise, the agency reported meth consignments from South Africa hidden in cereal packs.
These operations show how drug enforcement and arms control now overlap. The NDLEA built its name on narcotics seizures, yet its officers keep stumbling onto weapons while they chase drug networks. In May 2026, for example, operatives also arrested a 42-year-old suspect, Husaini Suleiman, after they recovered 361 kilograms of skunk during a raid in Zaria. Kaduna keeps appearing in the agency’s weekly reports, and the latest raid adds firearms manufacturing to that list. As a result, the agency has become an unexpected front line against illegal firearms in northern Nigeria.
Investigators now face the task of tracing the buyers. In the 2023 Kafanchan case, the suspect Monday Dunia confessed that he had run his trade for more than five years. Similarly, the Kaduna workshop may have supplied customers for some time before officers arrived. However, the agency has not confirmed that, so readers should treat any claim about the factory’s history with caution. Meanwhile, more arrests could follow if Musa names his customers or suppliers. Sojworldnews will update this story when the agency or the courts release further details.
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