Government, in its bid to protect the economy, deploys men of the Customs and Excise to the borders to prevent illegal entry of prohibited goods and products. Idiroko border in Ogun State is one such point. But the residents, claiming they have no gainful employment, either help or actively engage in smuggling activities, resulting in clashes with the Customs men. Many a time, lives are lost on all three sides, and property destroyed. No end in sight to these escapades in this special The Guardian investigation.SIREN blaring, gun-tolling, dangling dangerously on the tailboard of a Hilux van, ready for the kill.Ahead at neck breaking speed, meandering dangerously through the bumpy road is a Brown Colour Toyota Camry without a number plate.Like the Tom and Jerry cartoon, the chase is dangerous for the smugglers ahead, as well as the gun-tolling customs men in tow.But sadly, in most cases, the unjust escapes justice, while villagers along these routes bear the pains, sorrow and tears unleashed in the course of taming smugglers.Indeed, panic is the name of the game, day or night, as residents lick wounds whenever paths of the trans-border smugglers and men of the Nigerian Custom Service (NCS) cross.Innocent villagers are the collateral victims groaning with injuries inflicted, property destroyed and lives lost. They are the endangered species in the crossfire between Customs men's AK47 rifles and dangerous weapons, including charms, daggers, guns and machetes of die-hard smugglers.And for several years, villages around Idiroko borderline in Yewa South Local Council of Ogun State have seen war scenes.In July this year, Idiroko Town was for several days grounded to a halt as smugglers went on rampage in a reprisal attack, inflicting injuries at anyone or anything in sight. Customs officers allegedly killed one of them. This followed a similar incident in June, where a gun battle between Customs men and smugglers went on for two day at Gbaji-Yeke Customs checkpoint.'If smugglers do not kill and maim, then, it is by the eagle-eye Customs officers,' residents alleged.Middle aged resident, Ajani Olalekan said that the Customs and smugglers had connived to terrorise the residents for several years. The parties, in Olalekan's assessment, know each other too well.His words: 'The main smugglers in this region are the prime movers, and they work like a company. If they cooperate with Customs people, there would be no problem and we all live in peace.'Trouble comes when some people try to play smart, or people that are not friends with the Customs. The Customs officers chase after them (smugglers) around our village, shooting.'They harass our people on the road; oppress people that have nothing to do with smuggling in their own houses. We are the people that are injured and killed, labelling us smugglers,' he said.Olalekan, a vulcanizer, added that the villagers had borne the brunt stoically for several years until recently when they summoned courage to confront the Customs men's rifles in a reprisal, mob action.This led to several bloody clashes between the Customs and the residents, at least, three times in the last nine months.But there is no smoke without fire. According to the Customs, the villages are actually the den of border criminals and unrepentant smugglers catching on the porous zone to perpetrate trans-border crimes.An estimate has it that the region is a long stretch of over 600km of unmarked boundary between Nigeria and Benin Republic.The anti-smuggling agency noted that besides several routes that connect the Nigeria/Benin boundary to the villages, many more of smuggling activities go on unabated in the bush tracks.Attempts at checking illicit activities in the regions are, therefore, through road blocks and patrols of the communities leading to clashes with the 'smugglers' who specialize in importation of substandard goods, fake drugs and unhealthy food items like chicken and turkey.The Guardian investigation revealed that there are currently no fewer than nine Customs checkpoints between Canaanland (Km. 10, Idiroko Road) and the Idiroko border, a distance of about 50km.Some metres away from the main gate to SAAM Resort, about 24km to Idiroko border, there are four Customs' checkpoints each separated by just 10 metres.When The Guardian visited, the 26-room SAAM Resort in-between Ajilete and Oke-Odan villages were completely deserted and the frustrated owner wants to put it up for sale.The 67-year-old Professional Interpreter who ran the resort in the last 22 years, Muyiwa Phillips, said activities of the Customs officers against smugglers and reprisal attacks by residents had ruined his once booming hospitality business.According to him, the place has been grounded to a halt due to shootings and clashes between the residents and Customs officers.'There are four Customs checkpoints just right in front of this compound (SAAM Resort) with cases of gunshots on daily basis and threats to our visitors. Initially, they were before the SAAM Resort, just after the bridge on Ajilete end. But they have moved further and now, they squat on part of my land.'In the last five years, you will think that you are in a war front. You can count shootings of up to 50 rounds anytime of the day. The few clients that we had in the last five years were forced to stay away. But, this is still my resident built in the 1990s and I cannot go away,' Phillips said.Another resident in Oke-Odan village complained that raids by Customs officers had been more frequent in the village.'We were all treated as smugglers but how is that possible'' the elderly resident who spoke on condition of anonymity asked.He did not deny that there were few people in the village that 'trade across the unmarked boundary' and see nothing wrong with buying consumables that are more valuable in Nigeria, contraband or not. He, however, regretted the incessant killings of smugglers and villagers alike.The old man observed that the villagers recently had it up to the neck and started turning against the Customs men.His words: 'Before, they would shoot people dead and nothing happened. But on October 6, 2011, they opened fire on a young man carry frozen turkey and the whole villagers descended on them. Such confrontations had become more regular since then.'In anger, they burnt anything that could be burnt. No fewer than 10 vehicles, including trucks belonging to the Customs, trees were also burnt and the Customs officers withdrew for many days,' he said.There was a repeat incident last April, as an innocent person was allegedly killed on the Otta-Idiroko Road. The frustrated and desperate villagers, in that incident again descended on the Customs officers.In the fracas, SAAM Resort has been on the receiving end. According to Phillips: 'Whenever officers had to run, they come around to this resort and the mob would chase them down here.'Last April, I was here in my garden and the fleeing Customs officers were trying to jump into my compound until I threatened to kill them. The mob chased them all over my compound and broke everything they could lay hands on. The fracas lasted for three days in April.'Power supply to the resort has since been cut off after April's incident, as the cables and electrical fittings were destroyed and allegedly taken away by the mob in the process.Phillips lamented: 'I have bought a PHCN transformer with electricity poles and cables. But they either burn the poles or pull them down and shred the wires during attacks. For three times, I have had to re-install power supply.'I have had no light since April, yet the PHCN bills kept coming. I spoke to the Customs head here for re-imbursement but he declined, instead, asking that I go instead to the smugglers as they were the cause of the disruption of my business.'All pleas and petition, according to Phillips to have the problems addressed by the Customs had been unfruitful. He has therefore written a petition to the Comptroller in Idiroko on August 2, 2012, either to fix the damaged electricity fittings or give an assurance to repair them.'I am not going to repair the PHCN facility until someone tells me that they will do it or give an assurance that if I do it, they will give me an undertaking that in the next three months or so, it will not be pulled down again. And to tell their boys not to take refuge in my compound again.'I have relocated out of here to Cotonu, Benin Republic because you cannot live in your house and country, expecting people to come and attack you. They use me as a collateral victim. Okay, I have invested in the wrong location, but can't I still live in peace' Must I live in a place where they will be shooting all day and all night''Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Customs, Idiroko border, Chike Ngige, told The Guardian that the Customs had no hand in the destruction of property or killings of innocent villagers.While he regretted damages to property in the April mayhem, he said that the petitions should be directed to the villagers 'who have insisted that smuggling is their forefathers' trade.''Some smugglers operating within Ajilete community attacked our officers in a bid to escape with contraband items, burnt one of the patrol vehicles and destroyed Ajilete Customs checkpoint along Idiroko Road,' he said.He added that the complainant 'should also understand that the checkpoints have been there since he set up his hotel. The checkpoint was approved by the authority and not arbitrarily erected.'If in the course of the processes and a mob action was trying to kill officers, who should take the blame' He is a member of that community and he should know the people who instigated the mayhem,' Ngige said.NCS has the mandate to intercept contraband such as illegal drugs and weapons; protect businesses against illegal trade malpractices and enforce import and export restriction and prohibitions among others.The contraband list includes used vehicles (tokunbo) above 15 years from the year of manufacture; live or dead birds including frozen poultry; pork; beef; soaps and detergents; textile fabrics of all types; all types of foot wears and bags including suitcases of leather and plastics; used compressors among others.The Customs' spokesperson added that officers had various meetings with the village chiefs to appeal to their people against smuggling, but he alleged that they kept insisting that smuggling is the trade bequeathed to them by their forefathers could not stop.'They said that it is their trade to attack Customs officers so that their illegal trade will succeed and that is what we are facing. When we lose our men to them, we account for that!'Investigation by The Guardian revealed that smuggling is a common practice in Ajilete, Oke-Odan, Ihubo, Ayetoro, Ajegunle among other border villages in the Yewa South Local Council of Ogun State.Another villager who spoke with The Guardian said they are not smugglers, but just 'walking some distance to buy and sell. We do business to survive.' According to him, all we do is 'crossing cars or few items within this small community.'The 'small community' actually, is a borderline between Nigeria and Benin Republic. The borderline is not clearly defined, making it difficult to know where Nigerian territory ends or begins. Some houses are half way into Nigeria and half way into Benin. Many people around the borderline actually speak multiple languages fluently.But what are they smuggling and for how much' Findings revealed that most prominent on the menu are fairly used cars of about 10 to 15 years old. About 80 per cent of the tokunbo cars are 1990s model. Each is taken through the Idiroko border or from Alari to Owode (about 30km) for between N1,000 and N5,000. It costs N500 to smuggle a 50kg bag of rice and less more for a slate of frozen turkey, fairly used clothes and shoes across 40km from the borderline.Customs sources said that Ajilete village is strategic as smuggling activities across half of about 600km Nigeria-Benin borderline comes around the Ajilete River.Ngige added that their anti-smuggling campaign by the Customs Command has been intensified and they are winning the war.'On a daily basis, we have been recording seizures of tokunbo vehicles, frozen food products, rice, used-clothes among other unwholesome imported goods. Our anti-smuggling efforts have been yielding huge results both in terms of huge numbers of seizures and the multiplier effects on improved revenue generation.'Presently, we are recording huge revenue from imported vehicles which, hitherto, were smuggled without import duty. In a month, about 1,900 vehicles are presented for duty payment as against 80 to 300 vehicles recorded in 2010 and 2011 in that order.'All our imports in trucks and trailers go through scanning and 100 per cent physical examination when necessary before they are released from Customs control. By this act, smuggling of arms through this medium is checked. In the course of performing these functions many officers are attacked by smugglers or hoodlums paid by the smugglers. Over the years, we have lost a good number of officers in the line of duty, but we are not relenting.'Quite recently, over 30 Hilux jeeps (Sports Utility Vehicles) were given to the Command for its operations and a good number of AK47 rifles. The operational tools have boosted the morale, confidence and innate tendencies of the officers to do better for the service. Since mid-May 2012 when special focus was given to interception of frozen poultry products smuggling, over 3,600 cartons of the products valued at over N17 million had been seized and destroyed by burning,' he said.A senior Customs officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said: 'These people that do nothing else but smuggle had perfected the illegal act, such that they have built floaters across the river, with which six-able bodied men can carry a car across the river!'Look around, how many industries do you see here' All you have are just petrol stations and hotels, owned by smugglers. Before the increase in pump price in January, they have been illegally lifting fuel from Nigeria to sell in Benin Republic where fuel is far more expensive than ours. Now, they are more desperate, killing our officers.'Go to Ajegunle village, there is a place where you cannot demarcate between Nigeria or Benin boundary, and those people are just ready to kill, especially our men. Even if we have 10-times of the officers around, it will still help nothing. The crime is more serious than armed robbery and as long as they have nothing else to do, then smuggling and clashes will not stop,' the officer said.Balogun Ago Erinja, Oke-Odan, Chief Nojeem Akinyemi confirmed that some residents of the communities had taken to the act of smuggling across the borderline, but he added that majority of the smugglers do not reside in the villages.According to the chief, the smugglers often use the villages as stopgap between the two countries. 'Our own people that do smuggling are about three per cent of us, others only take temporary shelter at a charge by some of the villagers.'But when those that actually smuggle escape custom boys, they start calling we, the villagers, smugglers. In 2005, a visitor was killed in their (customs) attempt to catch smugglers. Few of our people that smuggle don't care about their names or life, but many of us do,' he said.Akinyemi, who is big time farmer, added that years of neglect by the government and poor attitude to education by the people accounted for the poor living condition in the villages and interest in the 'lucrative' business of smuggling.He observed that if the government empowers the residents to farm in the fertile community, at least, 70 per cent of the current smugglers would quit the act.Some residents who spoke to The Guardian were unanimous that there is no justification for the Customs officers to mount a checkpoint 5km after the border. The action, according to them, contradicts the 1979 ECOWAS protocol on free movement of persons, which Nigeria, as a founding member of the community, is a signatory.Phillips on his part noted that Customs in other countries are usually stationed at the entry point of the country, with no business going round the towns.'More so, you don't use a hammer to kill a fly! To mount 50 to 100 customs officers in the town to stop rice and turkey that are taken across the borders, and harass residents of the town and villages along the road is unjustifiable.'What is an armed customs officer doing at Atan, 40km to the border' What kind of country is this' Are they now authorized to kill an army of unemployed people because they smuggle' We are attempting to breed another set of Boko haram in this country, because these people have no other means of income. When the bubble burst, we will not know where to contain it,' he said.
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