One smuggler died on Saturday in Ogun state when hoodlums attacked officers of the Ogun I Command of the Nigeria Customs Service(NCS) who were on routine patrol.
In a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the command; Abdullahi Maiwada, a copy of which was sighted by Shipping Position Daily, he said that dare- devil smugglers attacked the officers along Aselu and Igua communities in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun state.
Maiwada explained that the customs officers came across a convoy of commercial motorcycles (popularly known as okada) ferrying smuggled foreign parboiled rice along the bush path of Aselu and Igua communities, Yewa North LGA in Ogun state.
He added that having been caught red-handed, the smugglers resorted to unleashing a vicious attack on Officers performing their duties with assorted dangerous weapons.
According to him, "the officers successfully repelled the attack launched by the smugglers and at the end, one of the smugglers died and his corpse has since been deposited in the mortuary.
“Furthermore, the arrival of reinforcement team enabled the evacuation of 44 bags of rice (50kg each) and two motorcycles abandoned by the smugglers to Government Warehouse Abeokuta for safe keeping and further investigation", the statement added.
The Customs spokesman disclosed that the state had earlier fixed last Saturday for total lockdown of the state as part of activities against the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It is instructive to note that Saturday (25/04/2020) was a date set aside for total lockdown in Ogun state due to the surge of COVID-19 pandemic. However, the daredevil smugglers who have no regards for law of the land or the disease ravaging the global community resorted to crossing the border through illegal routes to perpetrate their nefarious activities in total disregard of the health and economic well-being of the country"
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