THISDAY

Hoodlums Attack Customs Officials in Kwara

- By Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

Some people suspected to be hoodlums have attacked men of the Nigerian Customs Service' s roving team along Alapa area in Asa local government area of Kwara State

During the incident according to THISDAY investigat­ions, four Golf cars loaded with rice were taken away by the hoodlums.

The hoodlums according to our checks, were said to have escaped into thin air after they had carried out the dastardly act on Tuesday with the aid of a serving policeman allegedly attached to Alapa police station

The intercepte­d NCS's team was led by a Chief Superinten­dent of Customs, Maciver A.L. Other members of the team are Basheer, O.I, ASCII Iloba, M.I ASCII Ayinla J, CAI Mangai, and CAI Odo P

According to the leader of the team, the incident happened when they went on informatio­n patrol on Ilorin - Alapa road when they received informatio­n that smugglers have hidden two golf vehicles laden with imported rice inside the bush.

He added that "on sighting the patrol vans , the drivers of the vehicle containing the smuggled rice, bolted with the keys of the vehicles"

Maciver said due to the state of the vehicles that were laden with the contraband, himself and his men decided to evacuate the rice into the two customs vehicles on patrol

The customs boss alleged that after taking off from the scene of the intercepti­on and on their way to their office with the bags of rice, four golf vehicles loaded with people suspected to be thugs pursued their patrol vehicles with the assistance of a police corporal and forcefully off loaded all the bags of rice after partially destroying the customs patrol vehicle.

According to him, the ongoing constructi­on work along Geri Alimi Roundabout in Ilorin slowed down his men from moving fast and the police corporal and the thugs caught up with them and forcefully offloaded the rice back to the golf vehicles .

Micever said due to the presence of innocent citizens around where his men were attacked, they could not open fire on the thugs to guard against shooting of innocent people.

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