The Smugglers is A Detective Kolapo story. In the story, Detective Kolapo is invited to a town for a security seminar and on the way, he had a clash with armed smugglers who engaged in a confrontation with some Nigerian Customs Officers.

Detective Kolapo was invited to come for a security seminar in the town hall of Omuo Ekiti. He got directions on how to get to the place and began to calculate his transport fare to the place. From Ibadan, where he was based to Ado Ekiti, he would spend around 2000 naira and from Ado Ekiti to Omuo, he would need around 500 naira to 700 naira.

Kolapo told his girlfriend about the trip and she decided to loan him her Murano Jeep. He didn’t want to accept it at first but she convinced him. She also made sure the car had a full tank and also extra money for fuel and other things. He was a humble police officer but she was a wealthy businesswoman. A weird combination but it worked well for both of them.

Kolapo began his journey. He had been to Ekiti State several times so he was able to find his way there. He enjoyed the sights and whenever he came across a checkpoint of police, Road Safety officers and soldiers, he would show them his ID card and they would salute him and waved him on.

He stopped the car when he got to Iyana Ife, the popular junction where the Oduduwa University was located and the road that led to Ile Ife and its environs. He bought bread and akara and cold soft drinks. He got back in his car and continued in his way.

A few hours later and many checkpoints later, he was in Ado Ekiti. He bought food and continued on his way. He drove on the Opopogbooro road and continued past the Ekiti State University and then Oye. Then he was on his way to Omuo.

As he moved closer, he saw some Customs Officers on the road, checking vehicles and he wondered if there was a border nearby. When Kolapo reached them, they checked out his ID card and allowed him to pass. He continued on his journey. Then something happened.

He saw a convoy coming from the other side. A van led the convoy and in the middle was a truck and behind that was a jeep. As the convoy moved past him, Kolapo saw through his side mirror as someone in the passenger seat of the van opened fire on the Customs Officers.

The vehicles following the convoy turned around very fast and fled. Within a few seconds, the only vehicle in the area was the car Kolapo was driving, the convoy and the vehicle of the Customs Officers.

Kolapo brought out his pistol and parked beside the road. He saw the Customs Officers running into the bush where they returned fire. It was obvious that the convoy were smugglers. What could they be smuggling?

Since the border was closed, several people have found different ways to smuggle food and some other things into the country. Several armed men jumped out of the jeep and the van and began to fire at the bush where the Custom Officers were shooting from.

Kolapo set his sights on one of the shooters and fired. The man went down and the others turned towards Kolapo in alarm and began to fire at him too. Kolapo dived away towards a tree and hid behind it. Bullets peppered the tree and Kolapo began to pray that the shooters would not come towards him. If they did, he was done for. The bush was a bit far from the tree.

While the shooters were distracted, the Customs Officers in the bush fired and took down two of the shooters. The others ran towards their vehicles, jumped in and drove away. Kolapo rushed out if his hiding place and began to fire at the fleeing vehicles.

The Custom Officers rushed out too. Their leader walked up to Kolapo. “Thank you, you saved our lives.”

“You saved mine too,” Kolapo said.

“We are going after them. Will you come with us?” the leader said.

“Of course, I will follow in my car,” Kolapo said.

“Great. We are calling for reinforcements.”

The Customs Officers jumped into their vehicle and chased after the smugglers. Kolapo ran back to his car and followed them.

There was no vehicle in sight. Motorists must have heard the gunshots or been told about the shootout by those who had witnessed it. The smugglers veered off the road and followed an untarred road and Kolapo hoped the road didn’t lead to a small village. The shooters could take hostages.

The gunfire began again as the Customs Officers returned the fire of the smugglers. Soon, their vehicle was taken out of action as their tires were hit. The Customs vehicles somersaulted and landed on its roof. As Kolapo sped past, he saw that they were fine as they moved out of the overturned vehicle.

The smugglers now focused their weapons on him. He bent his head as bullets tore through the windscreen. Kolapo sped up and soon hit the smugglers’ jeep from behind. This made some of the shooters lose their weapons. Kolapo used the opportunity to target the driver of the jeep.

The driver lost control and the jeep tumbled four times and it was out of the action. Kolapo sped up towards the truck. He drove beside it and as the driver looked out his window, Kolapo fired at him. The truck veered off the road and collided violently with a palm tree.

Kolapo debated about going after the truck or after the last vehicle. He followed after the last vehicle. His girlfriend’s Murano was ruined and he didn’t want to think about how he would explain it to her.

Kolapo noticed that the last vehicle of the smugglers was slowing down. Before he knew it, they parked the car and got out of it. They all had guns and they were pointing it at him. In panic, Kolapo turned the wheel of the car and so that the passenger seat of the Murano was facing them.

Just as they opened fire, Kolapo dived out of the car. Bullets were sprayed all over the car. He was trapped. He could not even shoot back because if he stood up a little, he could get hit. The shooters moved towards him.

Suddenly, several vehicles appeared behind him. It was the Customs Officers. The smugglers turned around and tried to run but several Nigerian army vehicles were also blocking their path on the other side.

“Drop your weapons and surrender,” Kolapo heard through a bullhorn. He had never been happy to see the Nigerian Soldiers and Customs Officers.

All the smugglers were arrested and the truck was found to contain food like rice, tramadol and many other banned materials. It was found that the smugglers had found a road that the Nigerian Authorities knew nothing about.

The Customs Officers thanked Kolapo for helping them out and they promised to work on the damaged car. A car was provided to take him to the seminar.

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