A bloody clash between officers of the Nigeria Customs Service and suspected smugglers led to the death of one person, while another was injured yesterday in Ilorin at the popular Saw Mill area of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
There were conflicting reports over the casualty, while a source said two people were feared dead following the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, Kwara State Command, Mr. Ajayi Okasanmi, confirmed the death of one person.
A bloody clash between officers of the Nigeria Customs Service and suspected smugglers led to the death of one person, while another was injured yesterday in Ilorin at the popular Saw Mill area of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
There were conflicting reports over the casualty, while a source said two people were feared dead following the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, Kwara State Command, Mr. Ajayi Okasanmi, confirmed the death of one person.
An eye-witness told journalists in Ilorin that some Customs officers engaged in a hot pursuit of a vehicle said to be conveying suspected smuggled cosmetics products into Ilorin metropolis.
The source said the fleeing driver of the vehicle resisted arrest, prompting the Customs officers to fire gunshots, to stop him.
He said, “an unidentified Customs officer shot a driver of the vehicle and he died while his assistant sustained wounds. The car dealer, who has just arrived from a foreign trip from Benin Republic, was stopped by the officers on a high way. When the suspected smuggler did not obey officers, they chased him and later shot the two occupants of the vehicle and ran away.”
Our correspondent gathered that some car dealers and youths mobilised and barricaded some roads leading to the office of the Customs behind Ilorin praying ground.
The aggrieved car dealers and youths were said to have wielded dangerous weapons and protested towards the Customs office.
Anti-riot Police officers were brought in to restore normalcy to the area. It was gathered that the police officers shot into the air to scare the protesters.
The clash led to the blockade of roads leading to the Customs office in Ilorin by the Customs and armed police officers.
The Police spokesperson confirmed to journalists the clash between the Customs officers and some car dealers. He said one person died during the crisis, adding that the remains had been deposited at a hospital
morgue.
“Only one person died. We have made no arrest over the incident, but normalcy has returned to the area after the melee”, he said.
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