Smugglers Attack Customs Patrol Team, Injure Officer in Katsina 

Francis Sardauna in Katsina

Hoodlums suspected to be smugglers have attacked the patrol team of the Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone B Command, Kaduna,

in Dankama, Kaita Local Government Area of Katsina State.

The command’s Public Relations Officer, Isah Suleiman, who confirmed this in a statement Friday, said the suspected smugglers inflicted injuries on an Inspector of Customs, Haruna A, during the attack.

He said the Comptroller FOU ‘B’, Musa Ibrahim Jalo, was concerned about the injuries inflicted on the officer and had directed a full-scale investigation to fish out the perpetrators of the barbaric act.

Suleiman, in the statement, said: “At about 1300 hours on Wednesday, 23 August 2023, officers and men of Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘B’, went on legitimate patrol duties to the Dankama Area of Katsina State.

“While carrying out their statutory duties of anti-smuggling, some hoodlums suspected to be smugglers launched a brutal attack on the officers with dangerous weapons, thereby inflicting several injuries on Inspector of Customs (IC) Haruna A.

“The wounded officer was immediately rushed to the hospital for proper medical attention and is responding to treatment. It is pertinent to state that the Nigeria Customs Service is an agency that is saddled with the responsibility of enforcing government fiscal policies for collective societal good.”

Suleiman, a Superintendent of Customs, warned that any further attacks on officers of the federal operation unit would not be tolerated and would be treated with utmost resistance from the command’s operatives.

He, however, added that such violent attacks would never deter the operatives of the unit from carrying out their legitimate duties, no matter whose ox is gored.

He appealed to traditional rulers, parents and community leaders to warn their subjects to desist from attacking security operatives, as anyone caught would face the wrath of the law.