Some men of the Nigeria Customs Service have been held hostage by hoodlums and smugglers who also snatched a gun from a female soldier in Lafenwa, Abeokuta, Ogun State capital.
According to our correspondent, the incident happened on Friday night, when the customs men intercepted a truck loaded with smuggled bags of rice.
It was learnt that the crisis started, when the smugglers mobilised some hoodlums, which was led by a notorious cultist in the area, popularly called Abacha.
He said, “Customs intercepted a truck with smuggled rice. They took the truck to their office. But some officers were still in the area and the hoodlums held them hostage.
“The DPO Lafenwa waded in, but the hoodlums insisted that they would only free the customs men after the truck was released to them.
“In the process, NCS men called for reinforcement of soldiers and they clashed with the hoodlums.
“The hoodlums snatched a gun from a soldier and ran away with it.”
It was learnt that after the gun was snatched, the soldiers who were apparently provoked, blocked the roads.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the incident, adding that the snatched gun had been recovered.
Oyeyemi said, “We did not arrest anyone; arrests were made by the soldiers. They have recovered their gun. We are on the trail of him (Abacha); we are looking for him seriously.”
Oloyede noted also that non of the police men were injured, but one of the operational vehicles was vandalised by the hoodlums.
“Our men were smart to escape from the scene to the police station,” he added.
