File photo: Customs officials
Some officials of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Ogun State
Command, on Tuesday engaged in a gun battle with smugglers along
Ota-Idiroko road.
A witness said crisis erupted when some customs officials tried to
stop a well-known smuggler identified as Sherif. The officials shot and
killed Sherif at Ola junction, Onibuku along Ota-Idiroko road, during
the shootout, the witness said.
Sherif and his fellow smugglers were allegedly smuggling rice,
turkey and other items from Benin Republic through the border when they
were accosted.
The witness, a resident of the area, said Sherif and his gang are
known to always bribe compromised customs officials to ensure easy
smuggling until Tuesday’s action.
Following the killing of Sherif, there was a mob action as some of
protesters went on rampage, setting the Customs Hilux van and office
along Idi-Iroko road ablaze.
The mob also allegedly wounded some Customs officers, who were
shielded by combined security officials including the police and the
Nigerian Navy.
When contacted, the spokesperson of the Customs in Ogun, Abdullahi
Maiwada, said the violence started when Customs officials intercepted
the smugglers with their products. He said the smugglers attacked the
officials before the latter fought back.
“We intercepted a Mazda vehicle with registration number KTU
504 AN carrying 45 bags of smuggled rice, and also a Passat vehicle with
28 cartons of smuggled turkey,” he said.
“But in a reprisal attack, the smugglers mobilised themselves
and destroyed our official vehicle which was set ablaze, and also
destroyed personal vehicles of our men. They also destroyed the command
post at Atan junction.”
The spokesperson said he could not confirm any death and that investigation was still ongoing.
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