In the early hours of Thursday, August 24, 2023, a team of officers from the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Kebbi State Command encountered a group of suspected drug smugglers along the Bunza-Dakingari-Koko road. The smugglers, who were driving an ash-coloured Toyota Corolla car, opened fire on the officers as they were conducting a stop-and-search operation. Two officers, Alhaji Kabiru Shehu Abdullahi and Abdullahi Mohammed, were killed in the shootout, while the smugglers escaped before reinforcements arrived.
The NCS Kebbi State Command confirmed the incident in a press statement on Friday morning and identified the deceased officers as an Inspector of Customs and a Customs Assistant II. The statement said that the officers had been laid to rest according to Islamic rites and that the Command had launched a manhunt for the suspects with the view to arrest and prosecute them.
The Customs Area Controller (CAC) of the Command, Comptroller Ben Oramalugo, expressed his condolences to the families of the slain officers and prayed that God Almighty grants them the fortitude to bear the loss. He also urged members of the public to volunteer information about the movement of suspected smugglers and other criminals, while assuring them of strict confidentiality.
Comptroller Oramalugo said that the incident was a result of the proliferation of hard drugs in the state and that he had been fighting them since he assumed office. He said that he had made several seizures and arrests of drugs such as Indian hemp, diazepam and tramadol, which are often smuggled through a particular route in the state. He said that there were rich men involved in the illicit trade who were not happy with his efforts.
He vowed that he would continue to carry out the NCS’s core mandates of suppression of smuggling, facilitation of trade, security, revenue generation and enhancement of civil customs civil relationship to the host communities. He also called for help in prosecution so that suspects are not released back to the streets.
This is not the first time that NCS officers have been killed by suspected drug smugglers in Kebbi State. Less than a month ago, another officer lost his life in a similar encounter with smugglers. The state has been facing security challenges such as banditry, kidnapping and cattle rustling in recent times.
