Mob Kill Two Customs Officers over Death of Motorist

Comptroller General of Customs, Alhaji Inde Dikko Abdullahi

Angered by the shooting of a motorist by some officials of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS)  attached to the Seme Border, a mob thursday attacked the Customs post, killing two officers.
But the Customs gave the casualty figure as one.

The attack came barely eight weeks after a Customs officer allegedly shot and killed a pregnant female passenger and three weeks after another person, one Friday Poku, was allegedly killed at the Seme Border.
THISDAY gathered that when the news of the shooting of the motorist, simply identified as Saturday, filtered into town, he was said to have been killed in the incident. This prompted some youths to take to the streets to protest the alleged recklessness of the Customs officers.

Although they did not get the officer suspected to have killed the motorist,  the mob intercepted some senior Custom officers who were on their way to work and allegedly killed two of them. They also burnt their car.
It was gathered that the protest by the youths, which spiralled out of control, was fuelled by the lingering feud between the community and the service personnel who are stationed there.

According to some residents, the killings of people of the community by Customs officers have become so rampant that the youths could no longer watch such an incident continuing with little or nothing being done to bring the suspected killers to book.
One of the community members who spoke to THISDAY on condition of anonymity, said the officers usually cover their tracks by branding their victims smugglers.

The angry youths, chanting war songs, were said to have barricaded the major road during the protest. They later marched on the Customs office in the area during which they burned a patrol van.
It took the prompt intervention of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Seme Division, Mohammed Mu'Azu, a Chief Superintendent of Chief Police (CSP), and the border patrol unit of the Nigerian Army, headed by a colonel, to restore normalcy to the area.
However, Custom sources claimed that Saturday was shot while trying to escape after attempting to smuggle bags of rice across the border to Benin Republic.

The source told THISDAY that the suspected smuggler was not dead, but he was injured and was at the moment recuperating in an undisclosed hospital in the area.
But eyewitnesses said Saturday had engaged the yet-to-be identified Customs officer who shot him in an argument, which escalated and resulted in the officer opening fire on him.
But the Customs has debunked such claims, stressing that its men were attacked because they have conscientiously tried to stop smuggling in the area.

In a statement made available to THISDAY, the Customs spokesperson, Ernest Olottah, a Deputy Superintendent of Custom (DSC), said only one official was killed.
He said: "It is with heavy and sorrowful heart, the Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service announces the gruesome killing of one of our senior officers by some smugglers in the Ashipa area of Seme on Thursday, August 29.
"The deceased Customs officer while in his official uniform unarmed and driving to the command's headquarters for a routine meeting, was accosted by a mob which forced him out of his vehicle.

"Buoyed by an identified chief of the community, the officer was murdered in cold blood and his vehicle set ablaze.
“It is worth noting that the intensification of our anti-smuggling operation which has led to over 686 seizures since January 2013 has placed us in the danger of attacks like this from criminals."
He alleged that those being prevented from using the borders for nefarious activities were behind the attack.
"Our operatives due to their uncompromising stance against smuggling and protecting the nation's economy have come under series of attacks by smugglers and some unpatriotic elements who see smuggling as their right.

“In some cases, attempts  made at disarming some of our operatives in the recent past were rebuffed. Comptroller Othman Abdu Saleh, Customs Area Controller of Seme Border has in collaboration with sister government agencies, including the police, commenced moves to bring the perpetrators of the heinous crime to book.
"The comptroller posits that this unfortunate incident will not deter operatives of the command under his watch from carrying out their lawful duties," he added.

culled from THIS DAY Newspaper