The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Federal Operations Unit, FOU Zone ‘A’ Ikeja, has commiserated with the families of those who lost their lives last Thursday, after a commercial Hiace bus with number plate EDO AKA 35 LG, carrying 19 bales of second-hand clothings, in which they were travelling was knocked-off the Lagos-Benin highway during a hot chase by an operational vehicle driven by its operatives.
Three ladies aged between 25 and 30 years died at the scene of the crash, even as their remains have been deposited to an undisclosed morgue in Ogun State.
The Public Relations Officer of the unit, Deputy Superintendent of Customs, DSC Uche Ejesieme, who spoke on behalf of the service said: “Our hearts, thoughts and prayers goes to the families of all those who lost their dear ones in that unfortunate incident. We strongly believe in the sanctity and sacredness of life, that is why for us no life is worth losing in our quest to perform our statutory function.”
Explaining how the incident happened, Ejesieme said: “However, the fact of the case is that a headquarters monitoring team along the Ijebu-Ode/Itele axis of Ogun State, while on information patrol on Thursday last week, tried to flag down a commercial Hiace bus which they had earlier gotten information was carrying suspected offending items. The driver instead of subjecting himself to routine checks suddenly diverted to the other lane of the expressway and was driving dangerously against the traffic.
“The driver in his desperate bid to avoid lawful checks and coupled with his reckless driving, entered into a ditch and somersaulted resulting into loss of lives. As soon as it happened, the patrol team quickly got in touch with the Police in Ogun State who assisted in conveying the initial two dead bodies to a nearby morgue.”
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