NIPOST says illegal courier, logistics operators ferry weapons, drugs across Nigeria

The Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) has raised the alarm over the activities of unlicensed courier operators, stating that they help criminals to move dangerous weapons and illicit drugs across the country.

It also expressed concerns over the proliferation and infiltration of illegal courier operators and logistics companies across the nation’s major cities.

General Manager of NIPOST Courier and Logistics Regulations Department in Ondo, Oludotun Sounde, stated these at a stakeholders’ engagement held on Friday in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

Mr Sounde explained that the activities of the illegal courier companies were now posing a threat to national security and the economy.

He lamented that many courier operators always worked out of car parks and private offices before luring unsuspecting Nigerians with ridiculously low prices.

Mr Sounde observed that the unlicensed courier services and companies lack the structure for safe delivery and operate without any form of accountability.

“They are putting customers at risk of loss, theft, or abuse of their parcels,” he said.

“Using an illegal courier service is like going to a quack doctor. It could also cost you dearly.

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“One of the unlicensed operators was recently arrested for conveying firearms and hard drugs.”

He described the development as a “national red flag” that should not be ignored, noting that every parcel handed over to an unlicensed courier could potentially threaten national peace.

He disclosed that NIPOST sealed off two illegal courier companies in Ondo state and confiscated motorcycles used by three others in recent raids.

Mr Sounde recommended that every courier operator in the country should obtain operational licences from the postmaster general to guide and streamline the operation of the logistics companies.

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He said NIPOST is prepared to support registered businesses with training and professional guidance, even as he reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to sanitising the logistics sector,

He described the agency as a critical national infrastructure linking communities and facilitating secure communication, urging both existing and aspiring operators to register officially via NIPOST’s website or at any nearby post office.

Mr Sounde led a similar clampdown in Kaduna last year, in May, when NIPOST shut down several unlicensed courier operators.

Many offices of the affected courier express services, delivery, dispatch services, and logistics services were sealed during the enforcement exercise.