Nigerian authorities have intercepted 21 trucks loaded with food and non-food items bound for neighbouring Chad and Cameroon as well as the Central African Republic.
This comes as Nigeria faces an unprecedented economic crisis with soaring food prices and plummeting currency value.
The trucks were seized ''in a sting operation'' along the border in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno on Tuesday, the country's anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, said in a statement.
It has not disclosed specifically the types of food and non-food items that were intercepted.
An undisclosed number of suspects have been arrested and will be charged in court after investigations, the EFCC added. It is not immediately clear what offences the suspected of committing as food exports from Nigeria is generally not illegal.
Pressure on government
''The arrest of the trucks is expected to stem the tide of food insecurity occasioned by unscrupulous antics of smugglers across the country,'' the EFCC said.
The authorities have been clamping down on food hoarding and illegal exportation amid local food crisis which left the citizens largely frustrated.
Earlier this week, an angry crowd of citizens looted a large food store on the outskirts of the capital Abuja prompting the authorities to tighten security around such warehouses around the country.
There have been protests by labour unions in recent weeks as pressure piles on the government, which brought in economic reforms that have had a devastating effect on citizens of Africa's biggest economy and most populous country.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ended a fuel subsidy and currency controls, leading to a tripling of petrol prices and a spike in living costs as the country's currency, naira, has slid against the dollar.
Calls for patience
Inflation rate reached a three-decade high of almost 30 percent in January, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The government has announced plans to distribute food to low-income households to cushion the effects of inflation.
Tinubu has called for patience to allow his reforms to take effect, saying they will help attract foreign investment, but the measures have hit people hard with many families unable to afford three square meals a day.
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