The Idi-roko Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps in Ogun State, has decried the activities of smugglers, which it described as a major challenge confronted its operations in 2018.
Mr Olugbenga Farinloye, the Idi-roko Unit Commander of FRSC, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Ota, Ogun, on Monday.
Farinloye said that most of the smugglers used motorcycles as means of transportation to convey rice and sometimes rammed into other articulated vehicles from the opposite side, in the process of avoiding FRSC officials.
“Attempt for any enforcement agencies to try to arrest the smugglers along the Idi-roko axis had resulted to accident that led to the loss of lives and property,” he said.
The unit commander said that the smugglers cultivated the habit of using unregistered plate number on their vehicles which made it difficult to identify when crime was committed.
He said that the FRSC found it difficult to address the problem alone without the other relevant agencies because officials of the corps were not armed.
Farinloye also noted that some of the enforcement agencies along the Idi-roko axis could not arrest the hoodlums due to reasons best known to them.
He said that he had visited all the relevant enforcement agencies such as Police, Nigeria Customs Service, Department of State Services but all proved abortive.
Farinloye called on all relevant agencies to come together as a special patrol to form a task force to stem the menace of smugglers.
“There is a way we can collaborate to work as a team with all relevant agencies in tackling the activities of smugglers,” he said.
He also said that FRSC had visited many places like Churches, Mosques, market places and paramount rulers, to sensitise them on why safety consciousness on the roads should be a collective responsibility.
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