Just few months after the controversial story of how one Mr. Godwin Onoja, was mistakenly killed by officers of the Nigeria Customs Service(NCS) attached to the Customs Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone ‘A’, the service has come out with its own version of what actually transpired .
Shipping Position Daily recalls that earlier this year, a video of a traveller who was allegedly shot dead by officers of the Nigeria Customs Service because of alleged N5000 bribe, went viral where the officers were accused of killing the man because he failed to part with N5000 bribe.
Reacting to this for the first time since the incident, the Customs Area Controller in charge of Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘A’, Comptroller Aliyu Muhammed condemned the killing. He also told our correspondent that the travelers were smugglers who deliberately caused panic, so that they could escape with cartons of Tramadol in their possession.
He explained that the deceased was actually ‘camp boy; (informant or errand boy) who had ‘worked’ for customs for over two decades before the ugly incident.
The Controller said: “That camp boy has been with customs for over 20 years, he is the bread winner of his family and he has sent two of his brothers abroad. They (the travellers) knew they were carrying Tramadol in their vehicle, so when they were stopped they wanted to cause panic, unfortunately the mistake was made”.
Apparently make referenced to similar incidences where Customs officers were killed by smugglers or mob, he wondered why there was usually no hue and cry when such happens.
“They kill officers steady and nobody hears about that, but when a civilian is mistakenly killed, the whole place will be on fire”, he lamented.
Throwing more light on the Tramadol discovery, Muhammed explained that when the officers were able to drag one of the bags, “they saw packets of Tramadol and cutlasses”.
“Inside that box, the passengers were dragging, we saw over 3, 000 packets of Tramadol; in the second bag we dragged we saw about 2, 000 cutlasses, that was a night to the February elections”.
He however condemned extortion by officers of the service, saying that some officers go the extra mile to harass innocent citizens.
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