Kebbi: Village head’s son killed as Customs, smugglers clash

A man met his untimely death on Thursday, November 12 after clashes between men of the Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit, Zone B, Kaduna, operating in Kebbi State, and suspected smugglers.

The Punch reports that the victim was Abdul-Rahman Sani, a son of the village head of Budi, Alhaji Sani Muhammad, of Bunza Local Government Area.

The former Secretary-General of Bunza Development Association, Alhaji Sahabi Chindo, confirmed the incident.

He said, “It occurred after the customs officers intercepted the vehicles of some youths from the Bunza area.

“The youth went for a negotiation with the customs officers and after they had done that, they went back to their vehicles. However, a misunderstanding came up between one of the customs officers and the deceased.

“The officer said he would shoot Abdul-Rahman if he dared to come closer. When Abdul-Rahman drew closer, the officer shot him dead.”

The Public Relations Officer of the FOU, Zone B, Kaduna, Assistant Superintendent of Customs, Mailafiya Magaji, said men of the command while on a patrol along Kamba/Bunza Road intercepted a vehicle laden with bags of foreign parboiled rice suspected to have been smuggled into the country.

Magaji said, “The officers immediately came under attack by some youths from neighboring communities carrying weapons. This led to an altercation between them.

“In the ensuing melee, the youth attempted to disarm one of the officers and a shot was fired, which unfortunately hit one of the youths in the lower part of his left shoulder. He was immediately rushed to hospital.

“While some of our officers sustained various degrees of injury, the victim died an hour after getting to the hospital. Attempts were later made by some angry youths to burn down our barracks in Kamba, which was repelled by a combined team of security operatives.”