Hoodlums and smugglers on Friday held some men of the Nigeria Customs Service hostage and snatched a gun from a female soldier in Lafenwa, Abeokuta, Ogun State capital.
Our correspondent gathered that the incident happened on Friday night when the customs men intercepted a truck loaded with smuggled bags of rice.
A police source told our correspondent on Sunday that the crisis started when the smugglers mobilized some hoodlums, 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 further gathered that the loss of the gun provoked other soldiers, who blocked the roads.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the incident.
Oyeyemi said 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.”
The Public Relations Officer of the NCS, Ogun Command 1, Hammed Oloyede, said none of his men was injured, but one of the operational vehicles was vandalized by the hoodlums.
“Our men were smart to escape from the scene to the police station,” he added.
