An angry mob of travelers have lynched a personnel of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in Kaita Local Government Area of Katsina State.
The incident occurred close to the Dankama border community, along the Katsina-Kaita road early Wednesday morning.
It was gathered that an articulated vehicle loaded with both goods and passengers was moving from Katsina town to Dankama when they were ordered to stop by customs officials at one of their outposts.
However, the driver of the articulated vehicle was said not to have immediately stopped the car, an action which prompted one of the customs officials to fire some shots with his gun at the moving vehicle.
“A bullet from the custom officer’s gun struck one of the passengers in the hips and he bagan to bleed profusely. The driver of the vehicle then stepped on the brake and stopped the car shortly after,” a source familiar with the incident said.
He added that “when the passengers saw that one of them had been shot, they all came down and accosted the customs officials. They were able to identify the official that fired the shots.
“An argument ensued and before you know it, the passengers descended on the customs official and beat him to death,” adding that rest customs officials fled the scene shortly before the incident happened.
Another source identified the passenger who was shot in the hip as Bashir Na-Bunzawa, 27, a resident of Unguwar Zanguna in the state metropolitan area.
He, however, said that Na-Bunzawa was rushed to the hospital for treatment, but that he later succumbed to his injury after much efforts were made by doctors to save him.
Spokesperson for the NCS in the state, Tahir Balarabe confirmed the incident, adding that a mob action at one of their outposts led to the killing of the customs’ official.
“As you are talking to me now, you can hear the sound of sirens. We have gone to retrieve the corpse of the officer who was killed and make arrangements for his burial,” he added.
He, however, did not disclose the name and rank of the deceased person, but said that a statement would later be issued on the incident to newsmen.
