NO fewer than six people, including two customs officers,
were, on Thursday, feared dead as villagers and smugglers clashed with men of
the Nigerian Customs Service in Badagry area of Lagos State.
The crisis started from a reprisal
against a team of customs officers, who allegedly invaded Oglombo village,
where a smuggler was shot dead during an attempt to impound a smuggled vehicle.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that
problem started early Thursday, when a popular villager and smuggler in
Oglombo, simply identified as Saturday, was trailed to the village by some
customs officers.
The smuggler, who allegedly felt
secured, having escaped from the customs officers, parked his vehicle in the
village, where the officers caught up with him.
A disagreement ensued between
Saturday and the customs officers and the smuggler was reportedly shot dead by
an unidentified member of the customs team.
The death of Saturday reportedly
sparked off protest from his colleagues and villagers, who had accused the
customs officers of over-zealousness and high handedness.
A resident of Badagry, who spoke with
the Nigerian Tribune, said the villagers went on the rampage, killing every
customs officer that came their way.
Residents of the village, according
to the source, had been looking for an opportunity to clash with the customs
officers, who allegedly killed a resident of the village about two weeks ago
He, however, insisted that the number
of people that died in the clash could not be less than 13, with no fewer than
five customs officers and eight villagers and smugglers killed.
The image maker in charge of the
state police command, Ngozi Braide, said one customs officer was killed and
another one person, identified to be a villager, was injured.
She said the customs officers were on
the trail of some suspected smugglers when an unidentified villager was hit by
stray bullets.
Braide stated that the victim of the
stray bullets did not die, but the villagers took the law into their hands and
killed a customs officer.
Confirming the incident, the Customs
Public Relations Officer of the command, Ernest Olottah, however, attributed
the killing to the recent intensification of war against smuggling embarked
upon by the command, which had led to over 686 seizures, as criminals were
prevented from using the land border for perpetrating crimes.
According to the spokesman, the
uncompromising stance of officers of the command against smuggling had made
them come under series of attacks.
He disclosed that the Area Controller
of the command, Comptroller Othman Abdul Saleh, in conjunction with other
sister government agencies, had commenced moves to bring the perpetrators to
book, adding that the incident would not deter men and officers of the command
from carrying out their statutory functions.
“This is, indeed, a sad day for us in
this command. But let me emphasise that we are not relenting in the discharge
of our duty, as we will not allow the darkness of criminality to dampen the
light of our service to our great country, Nigeria,” he said.
Tags
Society
While would the custom take a life of someone, are they the law court?I believe this will teach them a lesson
ReplyDeleteDey are doin dis for u and ur children...
ReplyDeleteDoing it 4 hu?
ReplyDeleteIts for our good they r fighting
ReplyDeletePls custom officers should take it easy not to hunt for human life
ReplyDeleteCustoms ar trying their best,government should pls encourage them to do more. Pls. I luv customs guys.
ReplyDeleteI think its time for Nigerian Government to reform the NCS, and place the right and well trained officers as a security agents at the border. NCS are killing and injured Innocent civilian in the Name of discharging duty. it is obvious that most of them are not good enough to handle guns.
ReplyDeleteyou can only get the real truth from the eye witnesses.