The Ogun Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has revealed how one of its personnel suffered a machete attack that nearly took his life.
Customs declared that boys working for smuggling cartels carried out the vicious charge.
A statement on Sunday by Abdullahi Maiwada, the Public Relations Officer, dared the cartel lords to make their children smugglers, “send them to attack personnel and taste the consequences”.
It recalled that at 7:30pm on May 8, the day the new total lockdown in Ogun took effect, some officers went on patrol to Ilashe village in Ipokia Local Government Area.
The spokesman said during the operation, the team Intercepted thirty-five bags of smuggled parboiled rice of 50kg each ferried by a convoy of motorcyclists (Okada).
As officers moved the arrested cyclists out of the area, smugglers mobilised and launched a vicious deadly offensive with assorted weapons.
In an effort to repel, Assistant Superintendent Chidi Johnson, was brutally macheted, sustaining deep cuts in various parts of his body.
The wounded officer was rushed to the hospital for medical attention; he is currently responding to treatment.
Customs disclosed that suspects have been arrested in connection with the incident and are currently undergoing interrogation.
“We find it unfortunate that daredevil smugglers who have no regard for laws of the land or the disease ravaging the global community resorted to crossing the border through illegal routes to perpetrate nefarious activities in disregard of the health and economic well being of Nigerians.
“We seize this opportunity to enjoin the faceless unpatriotic smuggling cartels to stop using uninformed youths as cannon fodders in their nefarious trade. We challenge them to bring their biological children to attack personnel of the Service and have a taste of the consequences of such acts”, Maiwada added.