Business

RICE SMUGGLING: One person dies, 3 Customs officers in degrees of injury

Deputy Comptroller Usman Yahaya

By Ezurike Ugochukwu

One person has been reported killed by an alleged Nigerian Customs Service(NCS) strayed bullet and about three of it’s men sustained various injuries.

The Customs officers of Federal Operations Unit Zone A in Lagos had on Tuesday intercepted smuggled rice at Ayetoro, in Ogun State.

In an ensued brawl between the villagers and the officers, one of the villagers was shot dead which prompted a reprisal attack on the Customs leading to three of them being inflicted with degrees of injury

The locals account has it that the operatives attacked them, creating a pandemonium during which a stray bullet killed an innocent person, stating that it was the community that attacked the officers in anger, during which three officers were wounded, before they called in for reinforcement.

However, the Deputy Comptroller, of the Unit, Usman Yahaya, in a statement through Mr Theophilus Duniya, Public Relations Officer of Federal Operations Unit Zone A in Lagos on Tuesday described their attackers as hoodlums, sympathetic to the cause of smuggling.

Yahaya stated that at about 8.00 hours on Dec. 22, 2020, the officers who were carrying out their statutory duty of enforcing anti-smuggling laws while acting on intelligence, intercepted six Ford buses.

He said, “They intercepted six Ford buses laden with foreign parboiled rice at Kikelomo area of Ayetoro, Ogun State.

“Upon interception, some hoodlums who were armed with dangerous weapons and charms while working in support of the smugglers, swiftly mobilised themselves and attacked our officers to prevent the seizure from being taken away.

“Three customs officers sustained various degrees of injuries from the attack and in the pandemonium that ensued, one person was hit by a bullet in the process of resistance.

“The wounded officers are currently receiving treatment at our medical facility while further investigations into bringing the perpetrators of the attack to book has commenced,” he said.

He noted that he was very concerned about the loss of live and the serious injuries inflicted on the officers which was totally avoidable if only the youths were patriotic enough to know that the officers were just performing their lawful duties.

He also cautioned youths to reject being used by economic saboteurs to confront operatives of the service from carrying out their lawful duties.

“Normalcy has since returned to the area through combined efforts of officers of the service and the Nigerian Army.

“While thanking law abiding citizens for supporting our operations, we also warn people with criminal intentions to immediately desist from such.

“This is because officers/men of the unit are well mobilised, backed up by the extant laws and shall remain resolute at enforcing the laws without fear of intimidation,’’ Yahaya concluded.