NIS Raises Alarm Over Traffickers’ Use of Encrypted Apps and Falsified Documents to Outsmart Security, Deploys E-Border Trackers

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has raised a serious security alarm over the increasing sophistication of transnational human trafficking and migrant smuggling syndicates, warning that these criminal networks are exploiting highly encrypted messaging applications and falsified travel documents to coordinate operations and evade law enforcement.

The warning, issued by the Comptroller-General of Immigration (CGI), Kemi Nanna Nandap, highlights the technological challenges facing border management agencies in the fight against organized crime. The CGI stressed that the proliferation of end-to-end encryption tools allows traffickers to conduct recruitment, coordinate logistics, and communicate seamlessly without detection, making traditional surveillance methods increasingly difficult. Furthermore, the use of expertly falsified documents and identity papers is presenting a constant threat to the integrity of Nigeria’s border control systems.

The CGI made the statement during a recent strategic engagement forum in Abuja, where she reaffirmed the Service’s renewed operational commitment to tackling the menace. She described the smuggling of migrants and human trafficking as a “growing transnational threat to national security and human dignity.”

The NIS Counter-Strategy

In response to these evolving threats, the NIS is significantly scaling up its technological and operational deployment:

• E-Border Solutions: The Service has been deploying advanced E-Border Solution Trackers and the Migration Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS) at major entry and exit points to enhance real-time surveillance and interdiction capabilities.

• Capacity Building: Officials are undergoing intensified training focused on cybercrime investigative techniques and digital forensics, specifically tailored to intercept and decrypt data used by trafficking rings.

• Collaboration: The NIS continues to deepen its partnership with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and international partners, leveraging shared intelligence through platforms like the Common Investigative Database (CID) to dismantle the criminal organizations responsible.

The CGI concluded by emphasizing that the fight against these crimes is not solely about enforcing laws, but about the collective duty to protect vulnerable Nigerians from exploitation.