The minister of interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, says criminals on the red list of the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) have been arrested at Nigerian airports.

Tunji-Ojo said the individuals, who were declared wanted by several European countries, were apprehended within two days of entering the country.

He said the arrests were possible due to recent investments in surveillance and intelligence-gathering technology at the country’s border points.

The minister spoke on Tuesday at a regional workshop on maritime border security themed “Regional Maritime Border Security in the Context of Counter Terrorism in the Gulf of Guinea”, held in Lagos.

He said the suspects originated from countries including Italy and the Republic of Ireland.

His words: “I can tell you that to a large extent, we have built a robust database, and we are reaping the fruits of that.

“Now, it will interest you that a couple of weeks ago, within two days, a lot of people on the Interpol and red list were arrested at our airports. It means that these people would have come in.

“One came from Italy, one came from Ireland, the other one, I think, from a couple of countries. These people would have come into Nigeria 18 years ago, but now we know that in terms of our air terminals, they are in sync because it’s integrated into the central system.”

Tunji-Ojo said Nigeria now has an Advanced Passenger Information (API) system that allows authorities to screen passengers before arrival.

He said the API enables immigration officials to assess passengers’ records, travel history and personal background in line with international protocols.

He said: “Now, we can tell you that Nigeria now has an API solution. We never had that before now.

“Before now, we were one of the few countries without an API solution, without the opportunity for our immigration officers to pre-profile people coming into Nigeria, not being able to query their background, query their record system, query their antecedents and their travel history.

“We never had that capacity before President Bola Tinubu came on board, but today, I tell you, NIS has that, so if you’re coming into Nigeria today, before you come, we know everything about you.

“We’ve queried you, we know where you’re coming from, and we can tell from their aspect, we’re now fulfilling our international obligations to our international colleagues by being able to uphold the tenets of UN resolution of the API solution that we have at the moment.”