Customs Kill 2-year-old Girl While Chasing Smugglers
Stray bullets allegedly fired by officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) have killed a two-year-old girl in Ogun State.
It was gathered that the bullets were fired by one of the customs officers who were chasing some suspected rice smugglers in Itawaya, near the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Yewa South local council of Ogun State.
The incident, which occurred on Thursday, also left two others, the mother of the child and a young man whose identity could not be immediately ascertained as at the time of this report injured.
It was further gathered that the child was rushed to a hospital, but was pronounced dead having lost too much blood.
An eyewitness said that there were gunshot injuries near the girl’s armpit, suggesting that the bullet penetrated through that part into her body.
The source disclosed that a Customs officer had opened fire while chasing a man suspected to be conveying foreign rice.
“Those Customs officers thought he was smuggling rice, so they opened fire on him. It was one of the stray bullets that killed the child and also inflicted injuries on the mother.
“It was after they had committed murder that they realised the man they were chasing was not with rice. That’s what we face here all the time.
“Unfortunately, it happened the day President Buhari was in other zones of the state to commission projects. May God rescue us,” the source said.
When contacted, Ahmed Oloyede of the NCS in Ogun 1 Area Command confirmed the incident, describing it as highly devastating.
“We sympathise with the family of the minor and the Command is making efforts to contact them. The Controller has also ordered investigation into the incident towards putting an end to similar incidents going forward,” Oloyede said.