Men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) were attacked by smugglers while on patrol along Ilaro/Oja Odan axis of Ogun State.
The smugglers were said to have opened fire on sighting the customs men, who were on routine patrol of the area.
The attack which occurred on Sunday March 26, 2107, left bullet holes on one of the customs’ operational vehicles.
The operation led to the seizure of two vehicles stocked with assorted smuggled bags of rice.
Speaking during a press briefing held at the Idiroko Customs Area Command, Controller of Customs in Ogun State, Mr Gangua Hassan, said his men were driving the vehicles stocked with rice to the Idi-Iroko area command, when they were ambushed by the fiendish smugglers.
He explained that the smugglers escaped from the scene, while no life was lost.
He said: ’’On March 26, 2017 at about 3 a.m, while on routine patrol along Ilaro-Oja- Odan axis, my officers intercepted two vehicles stocked with foreign bags of rice believed to have been smuggled into Nigeria. In the process of conveying the said items to Customs House in Idiroko, some hoodlums armed with dangerous weapons barricaded the road and subsequently opened fire on the officers. My gallant officers repelled the attack and managed to secure one of the two seized vehicles with partial damage to our official vehicle.
‘’You can imagine what would have been the fatality if my officers did not exercise caution in a life-threatening encounter with dare-devil smugglers and economic saboteurs. This is why the media has a major role to play in exposing the grave danger customs officers face in the discharge of their duty, especially in Ogun State.’’
About seven vehicles loaded with assorted rice and frozen poultry products were intercepted and brought into the customs’ office in the course of the press briefing.
Gangua also disclosed that despite the harsh economic situation of the country, the command recorded an impressive feat in its revenue generation and anti-smuggling operation between January and February this year.
‘’The Ogun State Command of the Nigeria Customs Service for the first two months of the year 2017 (January and February) recorded an_ impressive performance in the revenue generation and anti-smuggling campaign.
‘’In detailing the activity for the period of January and February 2017, the command collected N906, 684, 498.26. However, despite daunting economic challenges, the command is working assiduously towards achieving and even surpassing the monthly revenue target given to it.’’
He noted that the increase in revenue generation was due to a renewed fight against smuggling activities in the command.
‘’The breakthrough of these gigantic successes is a manifestation of reinvigorated, aggressive and effective anti-smuggling strategy adopted by Ogun Area Command under my leadership,’’ he said.
Speaking further, he said: ‘’In the anti-smuggling drive, a lot of successes are being recorded on daily basis. The tireless efforts by the officers and men of the command yielded a total of 344 seizures with Duty Paid Value of N219,813,85, from January 1 to March 26, 2017.The items seized include; rice, frozen poultry products, second hand shoes, vegetable oil, vehicles, motorcycles, second hand clothing, used female hand bags, cannabis, boat engines, second tyres, used fridges and freezers.’’
Gangua added: ‘’The command made spectacular seizures of 14 units of vehicles, 823 bags of (50 kg) rice, 35 gallons (25 litres) of vegetable oil and 220 cartons of frozen poultry products with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N27,296,314 between March 20 to March 26,2017.As you can see, we still have about 1,800 bags of rice, frozen poultry products and some smuggled vehicles that are yet to be deposited in the Government Warehouse.’’
