Efforts are in top gear by the management of the Nigeria Customs Service to recover one of its patrol vans, lost to a gang of dare-devil smugglers in Ogun State, following a blood-letting siege that lasted over 40 minutes on Monday.
The smugglers had ambushed some Customs Officers on routine patrol, burning their vehicle and leaving a trail of blood on its wake as the whereabouts of some of the patrol officers remain unknown.
Only last week, the Customs Service similarly lost a patrol van to rampaging vehicle dealers in Kaduna, who attacked duty officers before set ablaze their patrol vehicle.
Fresh information has it that, a clash was recorded on Monday at the Toll-gate end of Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, when an anti-smuggling team had confrontation with some smugglers and dispossessed them of contraband of three vehicles,reportedly filled with poultry products and foreign parboiled rice.
Apparently unable to bear the loss of the seizure, the smugglers were said to have shortly regrouped, mobilized for a counter attack. This time round, the smugglers reportedly unleashed terror on anybody in Nigeria Customs Service uniform. When the dust raised by the bloody encounter settled, some officers who were not oblivious of what had initially transpired became victims.
“We were on a routine patrol that morning. And from nowhere, some hoodlums just swooped on us, attacking us with various dangerous tools,” he narrated, stressing that he was not aware that their colleagues had actually made some seizures.
“We were just on our way to the office when we were attacked by smugglers”, he stated further.
Corroborating the view, another officer explained that about the same time, another group of smugglers was also attacking the members of the team, which actually effected the seizure, as they drove on with the impounded vehicle of frozen chicken.
“One of the vehicles was rescued by the smugglers and one of our officers was the one driving it. He had to take refuge in a nearby police station, otherwise, he would have been killed.”
Speaking further, the source said, “After taking the contraband to the office, the Comptroller-General’s Compliance Team was on patrol when they ran into the mob and were attacked.”
The customs spokesperson, Federal Operations Unit,[FOU] Ikeja, Mr. Jerry Attah, described the incident as unfortunate, saying the team that actually suffered devastating reprisal was indeed not the team that effected the seizure.
Attah said a full-scale investigation was in progress.
