Two members of a smuggling syndicate were confirmed dead, while five security operatives sustained varying degrees of gunshot injuries during a gun duel between smugglers and a joint border patrol team of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) on Thursday at the Oja Odan area of Yewa North local government area of Ogun State.
According to the spokesman of Ogun 1 Area Command of NCS, Hammed Oloyede, the attack occurred during the evacuation of bags of foreign parboiled rice from stockpiled in a warehouse at Oja Odan.
Oloyede, in a statement said that a member of the syndicate, identified as Taiye Kujo, was arrested alongside six motorcycles used by the smugglers in conveying the contraband.
“The patrol team repelled the attack by gunning down two (2) of the hoodlums and left many others with gunshot injuries. The patrol team also succeeded in evacuating the aforementioned items and six motorcycles used by the suspected smugglers all to the Customs’ House at Idiroko, while the investigation was ongoing to fish out other members of the syndicate that escaped with gun injuries,” he said.